Unwanted Dead or Alive

6 July 2023

By Royal Flushes

CINDY: I remember when.

ABBY: When what?

CINDY: When you were being courted right in the casino by Mister Lothario.

ABBY: Right at roulette he started coming on to me.

CINDY: But he was your high school friend, right?

ABBY: Wrong. He was just someone I knew because we went to the same classes that’s all.

CINDY: He had a sparkle in his eyes right in that casino when he saw you.

ABBY: He was drunk. Kind of drunk.

CINDY: Don’t you think our readers would enjoy reading how an otherwise great casino trip was spoiled by love?

ABBY: No love, dear sister. I was having a great trip. Friday night was incredible. I won at blackjack and craps. Saturday morning, I was doing really well at roulette. And then I got a tap on my shoulder.

CINDY: Ah, cupid.

ABBY: If I didn’t love you, I’d hit you over the head with this chair.

CINDY: Tell us; tell us please. We all hunger for true love.

ABBY: “Hi, Abigail, remember me?” I turned and looked at him. Yes, he did look familiar but he was much fatter. He was never an athlete.

CINDY: Don’t fat-shame him.

ABBY: Sloppy fat too. He was wearing a striped shirt. He looked like a big fat zebra.

CINDY: He wasn’t drinking in the morning, was he?

ABBY: No, he was just drinking coffee. Then he sat next to me. “Honey, it’s so good to see you again. I thought a lot about you in the years since we were in high school. I’ll bet you thought about me too. We had something, right?”

CINDY: We graduated twenty years ago. He held that love for you for that long? I wonder where he is now?

ABBY: Well, a lot more time has passed since that casino trip. He’s probably close to sixty. Or thereabouts. Who even knows if he’s alive? He then, I mean right then and there, he hugged me. I could feel his fat squeezing against me. He smelled of onions and, I guess, coffee and cigarette smoke. I patted him on the back and then kind of pushed him away.

He then asked me, “How you doing?”

“I’m winning a little. It’s going okay.”

“In life, how are you doing in life?”

“Fine,” I said. “Just fine.” I didn’t want to go into my life with this guy. He was never anything special, or anything at all, I mean at all, in my high school life. I was actually struggling to remember his name.

CINDY: Let’s call him, oh, Lothario.

ABBY: Wasn’t Lothario a seducer of women or something?

CINDY: I think so. You were the literature major.

ABBY: Anyway, he talked a little about I don’t even remember what and then he said, “I have to go piss.” And he got up. “Save this seat for me.”

CINDY: And you saved the chair for him?

ABBY: No, no I didn’t. I colored up my chips and headed across the floor to the blackjack tables. I took a seat at a table that was full. Seven of us playing blackjack. I was hoping to hide from him if I could.

CINDY: How come you didn’t just go to our room right away?

ABBY: I went to the casino to play.

CINDY: You sure you didn’t mean to play around?

ABBY: I was going through something of a rough time back then if you remember.

CINDY: I remember. I’m just teasing you.

ABBY: Well, of course, he found me. He came up behind me at the table and gave me a big, wet, smelly kiss on my cheek. “This little lady and I were a hot item in high school,” he said to the table. “I had to move on,” he said. “I think I broke her heart. But we’re back!”

Oh, God, I thought. And now I could smell the liquor on his breath. It was maybe eleven o’clock in the morning. He had definitely had something to drink, maybe when he was in the bathroom or something.

“He’s a joker,” I said to the table. “We weren’t an item in high school or anywhere else.”

“Ha! Ha! I’ve had two wives in that time. But I always remembered us. Come on, baby, you always had a thing for me. I could tell.”

I pushed back my chair and colored up my chips. “I have a luncheon date and I’ve got to get ready.”

“Prettying yourself up for me, baby? Where are we eating?” he asked.

“Uh, I’m meeting my husband,” I lied. My husband and were divorced by this time.

“So?” he asked.

“Enjoy your trip,” I said. I scurried away and then went to our room. I waited for you.

CINDY: Did you see him again after that?

ABBY: I stayed in our room all day. That was an awful experience.

CINDY: Ah, love is a many splendid thing, isn’t it?

ABBY: Oh, boy, that was a rotten day. I won money in the casino and had a miserable time. Never saw him again thankfully.