Moose Jaw -
It was a foggy, dampish, dreary day on the second full day of spring.
The errands had been completed, some shopping accomplished and the lottery ticket purchased for that evening's draw.
Feeling somewhat at loose ends, housemate decided that he wanted to drop into the casino, before the special ticket in his possession burned a hole through his pocket.
The ticket in question was the stub from the previous night's Irish Rovers' concert. The stub contained an offer that housemate thought he couldn't ignore - it would only cost him $20 but he would receive an extra $5 just for dropping by and handing over his $20.
I wasn't keen on the idea, knowing how my luck goes at any games of chance, and besides, my ticket stub was at home and I wasn't about to spend $20 without getting $5 free.
He eventually convinced me that it would fill a bit of time on this afternoon, and added the clincher that it likely wouldn't take him long to run out of credits.
So in we went, with him asking me not to hover as he tried his luck with the lady (luck that is.)
I was a bit miffed that he thought my interest in his success was "hovering," but I agreed to keep my distance, perhaps checking out the box office, and maybe "hovering" over someone else's game machine.
I was just about to stop at the box office to ask about some concert tickets when housemate came up an aisle and headed my way, some tickets clutched in his hand.
"Did you hit the jackpot?" I asked, hopefully, "Or are you broke already?"
He sheepishly explained that he had been trying to feed the coupons into the machines, only to have them spit back out. This novice gambler finally figured out that for the coupons to work, he must have a player's club membership card.
That's where he was headed when I intercepted him. "How much is one of those cards?" I asked, thinking it might not be worth having one if the expense were too great.
The card, he said, is free but he needed to fill out a form at the customer service desk.
Finally, with card clutched in hand, he was off to make his fortune, or at least enough for coffee and a sandwich - that was only after he learned into which crevice in the terminals his new card was to be inserted.
Meanwhile, I concluded my business at the box office and wandered to check out the action, being careful not to hover.
Temptation reeled me in while I wasn't hovering. The machine looked fairly simple, requiring various combinations of sevens to win credits. I fished out a $5 bill and inserted it into the machine. Less than five minutes later, with the cash out button lit, I cashed out.
I hoped housemate was having better luck. My total win for the afternoon was 25 cents.
I retreated to the foyer and sat by the cash machines, watching as patron after patron lined up to retrieve more money from their accounts.
A friend sat down and we conversed, eventually to be interrupted by housemate, flashing a big grin and waving a coupon at me.
He'd been luckier than usual, knew enough to quit while he was ahead and wanted to prove to me that the afternoon hadn't been a bust - this time.
I asked him to cash in my prize-winning coupon as well, saving me the embarrassment of actually asking to be paid such a small amount.
"Wait until I tell Keith (his friend) about my day," he chortled about his $80 net profit position.
It's just too bad that his luck ran out when the lottery numbers from that night were revealed. And no I didn't hover then either.
Joyce Walter can be reached at 691-1259.
