2.
Lydia Devlin, twenty-three years old, a slim lady with shoulder length light brown hair and a fringe, standing at five foot seven inches, sat alone at a blackjack table in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas. She was on a five-day holiday birthday present from herself to herself and was there all alone and by herself.
Monday June 15th, 1987, may have been a month after her twenty-third birthday but she had worked, saved, and paid for the trip herself, having borrowed nothing to put forward to it. She worked, while being back home that is, as a waitress at a diner in the middle of nowhere. Her home of Castletown was always a rather large town, but the diner was on the outskirts, a part of the town where the public transport didn't even go close to.
The job didn't pay so well, business was generally slow except for lunchtime and for an hour or so in the evenings, and tips were almost non-existent, but it was a job all the same. Besides it wasn't all that far away from where she lived either, and that to her was both a good thing and a bad thing.
Having arrived in Vegas early in the afternoon, Lydia settled in where she was staying before deciding to venture out. Having begun to gamble with the first of her daily allotted amounts to gamble with, Lydia was twelve dollars down by the time she sat at the blackjack table.
Not normally being a gambling sort of person, it was a holiday with an experience Lydia had mainly been looking for, a get-away from the regular doldrums that is her life. She always wanted to go to Las Vegas and having got there she was going to enjoy herself. Vegas is just not Vegas without placing the odd bet or two, sure isn't that at least half the fun? One dollar bet a game was what she had allowed herself to begin with. She would play five games at this table, and she would see how she would get on before deciding what to do next.
The dealer had nineteen and was sticking. Lydia had a three of spades and a four of clubs. Seven was not going to beat nineteen so she asked for another card. Six of hearts made it thirteen. Again, she asked for another card. Four of hearts made it seventeen. Another card would be needed. A two to tie the game, any three or either of the remaining two fours would win her the game. The dealer presented a fifth card and held it a couple of seconds face down. There was only one dollar on the line, but Lydia was enjoying the suspense.
The dealer turned the fifth card, revealing an eight of diamonds. Dealer wins, unfortunate though Lydia enjoyed that game. She went into the second game with a smile on her face. That smile would widen with its outcome. Dealer scored a twenty with a King of hearts and a Jack of hearts. Lydia scored a blackjack with a Queen of hearts and an Ace of hearts.
Lydia won two out of the next three games and decided to continue playing, doubling her bet to two dollars a go and would continue to increase her gamble as the night went on. By half past ten that evening Lydia had made an overall profit of a nice healthy three hundred and five dollars and with that knowledge she could not help but smile. Time to stop playing for the time being and move on.
She more than enjoyed her first day though despite the gambling being done, the day itself was not quite. She would get herself a light salad and a glass of chardonnay before making her way back to her hotel to retire for the night.
With her room being on the fourth floor, Lydia got into an elevator. Being quite late at this stage, just one other person entered the lift with her. That other person was a tall man in his mid-forties, someone who was well dressed, with a medium build and pepper dashed hair. His beard, also being pepper dashed, had a lighter shade of brown than what his hair had.
The elevator doors closed, and Lydia notice the man was going to the fifth floor.
'So how did you do?' asked the man as the lift began to move. 'That smile on your face. It indicates that you either have met the man of your dreams or you have won some money. Since you apparently appear to be alone, I presume it is the latter.'
'How do you know that I have not just parted company with the man of my dreams?' Lydia smiled once again.
'Well young lady, the young man of your dreams, if he is at all worth his salt, he would make sure you got back to where you are staying, safely and soundly.'
The elevator came to a halt on the fourth floor and the doors opened. Lydia exited, turned, and stopped.
'Three hundred and five dollars' she said.
'Good for you' spoke the man as the doors closed over.
Lydia turned once more and made her way to her room. At this moment in time, she felt like she could sleep for a week, though she still had plenty more of her holiday left to enjoy. Sleep was definitely not what she went to Vegas for.
3.
Lydia awoke to a knock on her hotel room door which was followed by a voice calling 'housekeeping'.
'One moment please' she responded as she looked at her wristwatch. It was almost mid-day.
Lydia took a short walk before making her way back to a casino. She was grateful for how good the air conditioning worked in the casino as it was so hot outside, over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, which is not far away from forty degrees if you were to measure it in Celsius. It was a dry heat with not much air about, which made it all the more difficult to be out in, especially when you are more used to cool wet weather.
Heading straight for the roulette table, Lydia thought she would chance her luck. Starting off once again with a one-dollar bet, she placed that bet directly on a number rather than going for a bet that would give her more of a chance of being successful.
She placed her bet on zero just before the call of 'no more bets' came out. The ball made its way round the wheel and the numbers spun in the opposite direction. Though she would be nowhere near to being an expert, Lydia felt that her chances of the ball falling in or around the number zero were good, still she was caught by surprise when the ball did drop firmly into the zero slot turning her one dollar bet into a thirty-six-dollar win.
Day two was most definitely continuing in the same vein as the first day. The winnings for day two amounted to four hundred and fifty dollars. In just two days she won the equivalent of almost a full month of wages. It was indeed great to be on her own, away from that hum drum of her regular life and her winnings were making things so much sweeter.
The evening walk back to the hotel was more than a pleasant one. It had cooled quite a bit since she had last been outside. The sun had gone in, and the breeze felt so good that Lydia took her time getting back to where she was staying. Being away from her job, being away from home, away from all that housework and away from her drunken father all felt good, though there was a little bit of guilt there too. Was her father eating? And looking after himself?
It was quite likely that he wasn't but hell, Lydia needed to get away, even if it was for only five days. She needed to get on with her own life and enjoy herself at least a little, and she was enjoying things most definitely.
Lydia could not help but dwell on her life as she walked back to the hotel. Just knowing her room had been cleaned for her even made such a big difference. Two days of getting away from it all had passed and had not passed too quickly. She could and has enjoyed herself and knowing she could afford to really let herself go with the time she had left was such a good thing to have.
Almost immediately upon returning to the hotel, Lydia recognized a slightly familiar face.
'Good evening young lady. So how did we do today?' spoke the man she had shared an elevator with the night before.
'We?'
'Indeed. Don't worry; it is just a figure of speech.'
'Then let's just say, we ... done just fine.'
'Well, I was thinking of asking if I could buy you a drink, but maybe you could buy me one or two?'
'Something tells me that you can afford to buy yourself as much drink as you like', Lydia began to make her way over to the elevator, 'goodnight.'
'Can I at least ask you your name?'
'You may', not seeing the harm in giving a proper response, she would answer just before the elevator doors would close. 'My name is Lydia Devlin'.
'And my name is Scott ...'
Lydia would not hear this. She was already well on her way back to her room, and the doors too had closed before the man could speak his last name.
