Care to Wager

Gambling at Smitty's

Being at Smitty's had become a necessary daily ritual for me. Even now many years after I left the area I still miss it and the friends I had there. It was one of the few places; I could be totally "myself" without a worry. I never wondered what people were thinking because they would tell me without any varnishing of their words. I had been almost totally absorbed into the culture of this oasis of sanity where life was just life.

One day as I sat basking in the friendly abuse delivered up by Alice the waitress, I realized that there was a part of "Smitty’s life" in which I had not participated, gambling

Most of this activity centered on scratch games which seemed to be a kind of working man's roulette. Every day I had watched hundreds of dollars cross the counter in this activity (both ways) and noted that everyone seemed to participate.

I asked Sam, a local fireman, who had just bought $40 dollars’ worth of tickets, "Win a lot?"

He looked at me for a long moment like I was from the planet Zentar and said, "I do alright. Most of the time I break even."
So I asked him if he was only breaking even why play so much? He said for the fun and the buzz.
Buzz? I thought, why would spending your money on a far-fetched idea that you were going to win huge amounts of money give you a buzz? Now here was someone saying that breaking even was plenty to expect. As a sailor, I had gambled a few times but this was different - it was a way of life for people who seemed unable to afford it..
I would have to try this.

As these thoughts were passing through my mind. Bill sitting next to me at the counter said, "Hey Alice, give me one of those Play Four tickets".

Alice ripped off a ticket from a roll and handed it to him.

I said, "Bill, I have lousy luck. Can I buy half of your ticket? Maybe some of your luck will rub off on me".

Bill looked at me as he thought it over and then asked which half I wanted. "My half, of course,” I said.

He said OK and asked if I wanted to scratch first or second.

“You go first. You’ve got experience". I said sliding the ticket toward him.

"Not so fast", said Alice as she slapped her hand down on the ticket. "Where's my buck?"

"It's not technically her buck, right Bill?" I said.

"No it belongs to the state; she only gets paid to hand it to us," he said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Whoever's buck it is, I need to put it into the cash register now", Alice said holding out her hand toward Bill

He gave her fifty cents and said, "You’ll have to get the rest from Vic."

She took the coins, turned to me, and said, "Are you going to give me trouble?" Her face was reddening very slightly.

"No, I'm going to give you fifty cents. Well, not to you, but for my half of the ticket. " I said,

At that, Alice took the money, mumbled something about being driven crazy, and went about her business.

There Bill and I sat with the ticket on the counter between us.

"You’re up, Bill," I said.

He picked up the ticket and just as he was about to start scratching it.

Garry (sitting on the other side of Bill) said, "Wait, can I buy half of someone's half?"

Bill said, "Whose half do you want to buy half of?"

Garry replied, "Your half, I heard Vic has bad luck."

"OK, give me the twenty-five cents maybe the two of us can balance Vic's bad luck," said Bill.

It was then that Sam (remember Sam?) walked over and said, "I want half of your half, Vic."

I said, "Climb aboard but be careful, I've just heard I have bad luck. Doesn't bother me, I'm in it for the game, retorted Sam.

More interest was generated by this activity and by the time all was said and done there were eight of us in partnership. So before any action, we decided to have a stockholders meeting to establish by-laws before going any further. There was a general debate regarding scratching order which lasted about ten minutes, resulting in an approved scratching rotation.

During all of this, Alice went about her business but continued, more audibly, to mutter something about not being able to take much more. But her exasperation was part of this drama. We behaved as though we didn't notice.
Finally, she yelled, "Will you scratch the Damn thing and get done with this

We paused, Bill, pronounced Alice "out of order" but looking at her face suggested scratching the ticket might be the wise thing to do. We held an immediate vote and began scratching, of course after each scratch we had to discuss the outcome and speculate on the odds of winning.

Alice's agitation seemed to increase with each scratch but finally, it came to the last one. It fell to me to seal the fate of our enterprise and I felt the need to say a few words on this solemn occasion.
“Well, our whole adventure comes down to this. Unaccustomed to public speaking as I am I must say…."

"Shut up and Scratch the damn ticket", Alice instructed and I did.

A hush fell over the room and then a cheer went out - We had a two-dollar winner. We had doubled our money! Even Alice was happy heaving a long sigh of relief.

But then it occurred to me that we had not planned what to do if we won. I asked for another stockholders' meeting to discuss whether to cash in the ticket and split up the profit or reinvest.

The meeting did not happen because Alice grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and walked me to the door.

At the door, she said, "I've had enough for today, don't come back until tomorrow".

I protested, "What about the ticket and the other stockholders?"

She said, "I'll hold the ticket till tomorrow and the stockholders will be coming right out".

Out the door, I went.

I waited a moment and opened the door and said, "Maybe I should hold the ticket or Bill as he is the CEO"

Alice just yelled "Out!"

With a pout on my face, I shut the door I waited a few more seconds, opened the door, and complained, "You didn't throw them out".

"You started it - Now, Out! - Don't make me come over there", Alice threatened.

I left, and walking back to work thought, "Who says, you can't have much fun with a buck?

End