RANDY STONES’ FIRST NIGHT, PLUS HEART ATTACKS.

In my first post to this blog I mentioned a friend of mine, Randy Stones.

During his very first night working in a casino, breaking in to be a 21 dealer, something happened causing him to think, “This is my kind of place.”

Randy liked action, excitement, and the adrenaline pump that comes with it.  He still does.

Randy had been on the job for a couple of hours fumbling around with cards and chips trying to get his hands to do what his mind was telling them.

At the beginning of Randy’s shift the casino manager had a player thrown out.  The player was a dealer who had in the past worked in the same casino in which Randy was just starting out.

This player was abusive and a loudmouth and became quite frustrated when he lost his money and would vent his anger aloud, throwing his cards at the dealer, swearing and bothering other patrons.

The disgruntled player returned in a few hours with a pistol.  He shot the casino manager in the stomach a couple of times.  One of the bullets somehow landed right next to Randy’s foot.  That is when Randy thought—This is my kind of place!

The casino manager, a man everybody liked, did not die from the gunshot wounds.  He returned to work but he was not the same and died a year later.

HEART ATTACKS

When I was a young break-in dealer and still in the fumbling around stage trying to get my hands to do what my mind was telling them to do, the 21 dealer at the next table to my right had a heart attack.  At the time I thought he was old.  I was 22 or 23.  He was in his 50s, had white hair, so in my mind he was ancient.

He called out the shift boss’ name, “Kenny!” and was holding the deck in his left hand, his right gripping the table trying to keep from falling backward.  I can to this day visualize it.  He collapsed and ended up on his back.

The degenerate players on my game who had seen it all didn’t miss a beat.  They watched the little emergency spectacle and kept making bets and asking for hit cards.  I dealt to them.  It was only a heart attack, after all.

The shift boss called to a dealer who was on his break and motioned for him to take over heart attack guy’s game.  Heart attack guy died a couple of minutes later.  The action never slowed.

Another time a woman was shooting craps.  She was a high roller and was betting it up pretty good.  She had all the numbers covered.  Her son was with her, but he was just watching.  The woman had a heart attack and fell to the floor.

The first thing the son said before he turned to assist his mother was to one of the crap dealers, “How much does she have on the layout?  Take all her bets down.”

First things first, of course.

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I wanted to mention that I am making headway with my endeavor to put my novel, The Cheaters, up on Amazon as both an e-reader and in book form.  After uploading The Cheaters, I have been informed that it will take four or five weeks for it to be available to the public.

I would also like to thank my longtime friend Dan Bunker, for his conferring with me and showing such interest in my blog and novel.

Ed Curley.