Page 44 of In the Nick of Time
Velvet Elvis started singingAre You Lonesome Tonight?, which wasn’t Nick’s favorite. He shifted in his seat, wishing he could get up and walk around. He felt twitchy and uncomfortable again, like he’d sat on an anthill. The dealer tapped the table with his index finger and each player flipped a card in turn.
Nick kept one eye on Mr. Theodore, who seemed alert enough. Minutes later, four of the players laid down their hands and an older woman on the far side of the table smiled and dragged the chips toward her. She looked familiar. It took Nick a minute to place where he’d seen her before, but then he remembered. She was the one who hadn’t had to wait in line on their first visit to the club. Whoever she was, she was a real VIP.
Mr. Theodore dealt another round and Elvis began to singCan’t Help Falling in Love. This was Nick’s favorite Elvis song, but he wasn’t enjoying it. Velvet did a fine cover, but Nick found himself shifting in his seat. Something felt wrong, off, and he couldn’t figure out what.
A few minutes later, after Doug had lost yet another round—not at all a 007-type poker player—he poked him in the side.
“We need to get out of here,” Nick whispered.
“Can’t. I have to finish the game.”
“I’m telling you we need to leave.”
“Nope.” The word was spoken with finality.
“I’m going to go find a restroom.”
He moved to get up, but the dealer shot him a baleful look. Doug grabbed his suit jacket, forcing him to stay put.Fine.
But he knew something was wrong; the back of Nick’s neck was extra twitchy. Goose bumps formed on his arms as if he was cold, but he wasn’t. He was genuinely disturbed by something he couldn’t put a name to. He couldn’t shake the impression that something very, very weird was happening. But if Doug wasn’t ready to leave, there was no way Nick would be able to drag him away.
The play ended with the senior citizen winning again. Mr. Theodore cracked open a fresh deck of cards, shuffled them, and began dealing hands to each player. Doug didn’t even look at the dealer. None of the players looked at him. Which, okay, Nick found that odd.
Obviously, the players were supposed to be concentrating on the cards in their hands, but this was more than that. Or less. Nick wasn’t sure which. All he knew was that something was wrong and Doug was ignoring his warnings.
He’d just about decided to cause a scene when Elvis abruptly stopped singing and the lights went up just enough to make players blink. Nick’s attention had been on Mr. Theodore again,who, he was shocked to note, was wearing earplugs. Why was the man wearing earplugs?
“Games are finished for the rest of the evening,” said a voice over the sound system.
Nick looked around, but whoever was speaking wasn’t in the room. Curiouser and curiouser.
Doug set his cards down and looked at Nick for the first time in a very long hour.
“What?” asked Nick. “Why are you looking at me like that? Can we just get going already? This place is giving me the creeps,” he added in a hiss.
Somewhat reluctantly, or at least it seemed that way to Nick, Doug rose to his feet.
No one stoppedthem as they successfully made their way back through the rooms to the street outside, which Nick had been half afraid wouldn’t happen. He felt like they were escapingsomething, he just didn’t know what. He didn’t try talking to Doug, he was just happy to get out of the gambling den. He’d be even happier to never return.
Doug pivoted and headed back toward their hotel. Nick’s feet hurt, reminding him they’d tramped all over suburban Vegas once already today. He wanted to ask if they were catching a ride, but Doug still seemed off. Maybe whatever was bothering him would wear off in a few blocks.
Silently, they kept walking, dodging late-night partiers and drunken bachelors and bachelorettes. Finally, Nick couldn’t stand it anymore.
“What was going on back there?” he asked.
“What?” Doug asked, turning his head slightly to look at him while he still death-marched them to the hotel.
“Something weird happened back there and I want to know what it was.”
“Nothing weird happened except at the end. I was winning for the first time and they called the damn game.”
“Okaaay. My bad. I didn’t realize you were a big poker player.”
“I’m not.” Doug moved to the side for a crowd of giggling girls. Women.
“So, why does it bother you that they stopped the game?”
“It just did.”
