The Game

Her look softened. She said, “All right, but do you know how to play this game? If you do, I suggest that you find a less expensive table. This is a $25.00 minimum.”

Poochie placed a hundred dollar bill on the table. The dealer gave him his chips. Thirty minutes later he smiled, got down from his stool, and took $500.00 in chips to cash them in. The dealer watched him leave, smiling at his back. She was thinking how sad it would be not to be able to speak or hear.

In the next two hours Poochie won $500.00 at blackjack tables in four other casinos. He took his winnings to his car, a 10-year old Honda Civic parked in the Tropicana garage. He left the garage and took the Black Horse Pike out of the city to a motel a mile from town. Being deaf, he was taking great risks to drive, but he did so by observing speed limits and his mirrors He went to his room and counted his money. He had $2,500.00 in winnings, and this would be his bankroll. The motel was inexpensive compared to the hotels in A.C., and he had a Big Mac, coke and fries in the small refrigerator.

Poochie didn’t bother to turn on the TV. He never looked at TV. Instead, he had a book on Quantum Physics with a bookmark near the middle. While he ate he read more on the subject.

He was about to turn 19, and he was pretending that he was over 21. In that week he won over $10,000.00 at the casinos, in $500.00 increments. He was a master of numbers, a genius at odds, and he never forgot anything. Reading about the casino industry, he knew they watched for card counters and subterfuge. Maintaining a low profile was the only way to go. He gave himself three weeks in Atlantic City. He had no desire for confrontation.

Poochie played for another two weeks. He stuck with blackjack and avoided other games.

Slots were of no interest to him. Neither was craps. Because of his distinctive size, he knew that he stuck out like a sore thumb when he moved through crowds of normal-sized people, so he never walked through a casino in the same direction, and he never played at the same tables. He had no desire to become known.

Poochie wasn’t greedy. At the end of three weeks he had won $53,000.00. It was time to head for Vegas.

He had noticed a large Catholic church when he had come onto the southern end of Absecon Island and driven through Longport and Margate. He had already checked out of his motel and had all his worldly possessions in his car. He stopped at the church and waited until an old woman had left the church. He moved swiftly down the aisle and placed a white envelope on the altar. In neat script on the outside of the envelope he had written, “For Him and His Great Work.”

Poochie left the church. A half hour later Father John Kelly found the envelope, opened it, and discovered $10,000 inside. He went down on his knees and bowed his head.