User:Fish/Mad Hatters and Musical Chairs - Revision history

Fish: /* 7♦ 7♥ */

2009-03-30T08:32:26Z

7♦ 7♥

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Fish: /* 8♠ 8♥ */

2009-03-20T08:13:22Z

8♠ 8♥

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Fish: /* Q♣ 7♥ */

2009-03-09T02:40:05Z

Q♣ 7♥

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Fish: /* ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ */

2009-03-04T08:14:01Z

♠ ♣ ♥ ♦

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Fish: /* 9♣ 10♣ Q♥ 2♠ */

2009-03-03T07:41:47Z

9♣ 10♣ Q♥ 2♠

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:41, 3 March 2009
Line 1,564:		Line 1,564:

	The girl's sweet smile became broader. “Happily,” she said, handing him a historical brochure on the Lakes Hotel, “I don't think you should worry about that.”		The girl's sweet smile became broader. “Happily,” she said, handing him a historical brochure on the Lakes Hotel, “I don't think you should worry about that.”

			=&spades; &clubs; <span style="color:red">&hearts; &diams;</span>=

			Night settled over the Lakes Hotel. Visitors returned to their rooms, drew back the sheets, turned out the lights. Slowly, the traffic in the casino dwindled down to only the hardest of the die-hards. Staff shifts ended. The cabana bar closed down, all its tables cleaned and the chairs upended.

			The neon aura of the Strip to the west would glow all night: for most of Las Vegas, the casinos never closed their doors and the bars never closed. From dawn until dusk, from dusk until the following day, the Sin City spectacle would continue. Slot machines would devour coins by the tens and dispense only a tithe, converting prodigality to parsimony through probability. Peddlers on street corners passed out pamphlets for prostitutes. Tomorrow would bring more of the same.

			Desert winds blew out of the Mojave across the Lakes, rustling the leaves of the coconut palms that ringed the ponds and pools. Cicadas thrummed in the treetops. Moonlight fell upon the ceremonial chapel at the lake's edge, scattering its reflection in the water.

			When the Lakes had been the Honeymoon Hotel, the Chapel had been the center of activity every weekend. As many as five couples were married there some days, husbands and wives joined together in joyous matrimony. The lakeside lawn had once seen arches and festive bunting and flowers, streamers and silk and lace.

			Now, the chapel was an office. The lawn held gardening sheds for landscaping equipment, un-romantic lawnmowers and rakes and leaf-blowers. There had been no lace for years, no wedding registries, no exchange of vows. But, as night passed stealthily by the Lakes Hotel, the match-making continued.

	=={{Separator\|r\|'''to be continued'''}}==		=={{Separator\|r\|'''to be continued'''}}==

Fish: /* 9♣ 10♣ Q♥ 2♠ */

2009-03-02T20:47:41Z

9♣ 10♣ Q♥ 2♠

@@ Line 1,461: / Line 1,461: @@
 =9&clubs; 10&clubs; <span style="color:red">Q&hearts;</span> 2&spades;=
-(Xavier-Luis-Frank-Quincy.)
+The bachelor party rolled into the Lakes Hotel at ten thirty, radio blaring and all of them singing along to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in at least two different keys.  Quincy Todd was driving Frank and Carmen Griffith's black RAV4 with an occasional steely grimace.  Three drunken groomsmen could make a tremendous noise, and had been doing so for the better part of the evening.
 =={{Separator|r|'''to be continued'''}}==

Fish: /* 8♥ 3♦ 8♠ */

2009-03-01T06:02:07Z

8♥ 3♦ 8♠

@@ Line 1,369: / Line 1,369: @@
 =<span style="color:red">8&hearts; 3&diams;</span> 8&spades;=
-(Vance-Kendrick-Aurora.)
+Kendrick Carter led the way to the elevators.  Even though he, his sister Aurora, and Vance were walking long side by side and talking, and though Vance was in the center, there was no doubt Kendrick was leading.  He was always just slightly ahead, and he never failed to point the way.  That was something Vance had noticed about him in their long years of friendship:  Kendrick was never lost, or at a loss, always at his confident ease, never uncertain.
 =9&clubs; 10&clubs; <span style="color:red">Q&hearts;</span> 2&spades;=

Fish: /* 7♦ Q♣ 7♥ */

2009-02-27T08:17:32Z

7♦ Q♣ 7♥

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Fish: /* Q♣ 7♥ A♥ */

2009-02-25T07:33:28Z

Q♣ 7♥ A♥

@@ Line 1,083: / Line 1,083: @@
 =Q&clubs; <span style="color:red">7&hearts; A&hearts;</span>=
-(Ursula-Honor-Maris.)
+Some time after Nadine Oba had gone to bed, and Russell Hyatt had gone back to gambling, Ursula Abrams found herself engrossed in conversation with two charming women.  ''One'' charming woman, she corrected herself, and one somewhat prickly and self-conscious woman.
 =Joker <span style="color:red">8&hearts; 3&diams;</span> 8&spades;=

Fish: /* Joker 8♥ 3♦ 8♠ */

2009-02-25T07:28:16Z

Joker 8♥ 3♦ 8♠

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:28, 25 February 2009
Line 1,130:		Line 1,130:

	There was a definite chill in the air. Aurora's smile was polite and distant, Vance's bemused. Kendrick gave her a curt nod and another conversation-stopper: “Thanks for your help. We're going to be heading back to our rooms.”		There was a definite chill in the air. Aurora's smile was polite and distant, Vance's bemused. Kendrick gave her a curt nod and another conversation-stopper: “Thanks for your help. We're going to be heading back to our rooms.”

			''Strike one'', thought Dee Dee, bemused. ''Why don't we see if we can frighten anybody else out of the casino tonight?''

			She managed not to alarm her next guest, a clean-shaven white guy in his thirties with his hair slicked carefully back with styling gel. He had a neutral gray jacket over one arm, tee-shirt, and Dockers. One brown leather work boot was propped on the rungs of his stool, and forgotten in one hand was his drink, neatly wrapped in a napkin. The man idly scanned the Friday night casino crowd, completely disregarding the video blackjack machine beside him.

			“Your ice is melting,” Dee Dee chirped at him. “Can I perk you up?”

			His eyes leapt to her sparkling skirt, then crawled up her body to her face, lingering at her overstuffed bikini. “I think you can,” he said, and turned on a friendly smile.

			“Perk up your ''drink'',” Dee Dee chided him. “Bad man.”

			His smile never wavered. “That's me. I'm a bad man. My mama didn't raise me right.”

			“So can I freshen up your drink?”

			“Yes. Martini, no gin,” he said, handing it over. “On the rocks.”

			“That's a strange way to drink a martini,” Dee Dee said doubtfully, taking the glass and disentangling the soggy napkin.

			“That's the way I like 'em,” the man said. The smile disappeared, as completely as if it had been unplugged.

			“No no,” Dee Dee laughed. “I mean the napkin. Look, it's all wet now.”

			“Ah, that,” he said. He hesitated a moment too long before saying, “Germs. I don't want the germs.”

			“I can get someone to wipe down that machine, if you like,” Dee Dee offered.

			He shook his head. “Don't worry about it, I'm not playing it.”

			“I'll be right back.”

			“Miss?” he called after her.

			Dee Dee stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”

			“Garvin Danbury,” he said. “Room 428.”

			“It's okay, Mr. Danbury,” Dee Dee smiled at him. “This isn't charged to your room. Cocktails are complimentary on the casino floor.”

			Again, his smile lighted up: innocent and charismatic and guileless, as suddenly as if a switch had been thrown. “I meant … for later,” Danbury said suggestively.

			“I'm afraid not,” Dee Dee said, and sighed theatrically. It was so annoying when the male patrons tried to pick up on her — and the female ones, for that matter. Didn't the read the brochure? “I couldn't do it. Fraternizing with the guests is a no-no.”

			“Nobody needs to know,” Danbury said.

			“You ''are'' a bad man,” she mock-scolded him.

			“That's me,” Danbury said, and the smile vanished again. “My mama didn't raise me right.”

			Dee Dee left for the bar to place Danbury's special drink order. It wouldn't occur to her until much later to wonder if he had been hiding anything under that jacket.

	=<span style="color:red">7&diams;</span> Q&clubs; <span style="color:red">7&hearts;</span>=		=<span style="color:red">7&diams;</span> Q&clubs; <span style="color:red">7&hearts;</span>=