took her to lost and found. They said the bag would be collected and would await her in Washington. I asked her if she wanted dinner.

I’m going to skip ahead a bit, as this is ostensibly a book on Blackjack. The next morning, I had to make my way home (another train ride), get packed and get to the airport. I told her she could stay until checkout time and just leave the key in the room as she woke up feeling feverish. On to the next leg of my journey.

I was staying in the Riviera this trip. It was one of the older rooms with two beds, in the original structure, which would turn out to be of value. The visit was only a few days and did not start well. I did not have a winning day. On the last night, I planned on waking early, taking one last stab at the tables in the morning, and taking the afternoon flight back.

I woke on the last day in a pool of sweat with barely enough strength to lift myself out of bed. The bed looked like someone had dumped a pail of water over it. So much for my plans. I gathered my strength, went down to the café and ordered an orange juice. At that time, an OJ at the Riviera cost the same as bacon, eggs, hash browns, coffee, and juice at the Stardust across the street. I could only get down a couple of small sips. I wandered down to the drug store, bought a thermometer and returned to the room. My temperature was nearly 103. Any sane person would have quickly found a doctor. But young folk always think they are indestructible. I called the airline, changed my flight to the Midnight run and renewed the room. I figured that if I could just sleep for a while, I could regain some strength. Good thing I had two beds. I fell asleep in the second bed. A couple hours later, having soaked that bed, I switched back to the first. I switched back and forth until early evening.

Much to my surprise, I started feeling a bit better in the evening. My temperature was still high, but not as frighteningly high and I was feeling more human. I still had a few hours before the flight, was weak but had my wits about me, so why not? I came here to play Blackjack. So, I grabbed a taxi and headed to Caesars Palace.

Caesars was THE place back then. It was still small, with only the casino under the dome. The cocktail waitresses were

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger