Sorry folks – I now have a new computer – do I need to say more?


After the first training session, his hands hurt from punching the ball in the Aussie passing method. One hand would hold the ball steady with it resting on top of the palm, and then the other hand, made into a fist, connected with the end of the ball using the inside of the fist where the thumb curled around. The best passers made the ball rotate backward and it reached their targets with surprising accuracy, even over twenty yards or more. By the end of the two weeks of training, he was tired, his leg muscles hurt, his hands hurt, and he could run further for longer than he had ever been able to in his whole life.

The training rapidly became tedious, but when the actual season started, he found he quite enjoyed playing even if he was nowhere near as good as the seasoned players, especially the ex-patriate Aussies. The bumps, scrapes, and bruises he accumulated rather readily were all part of the fun, apparently! Certainly, the other guys seemed to throw themselves about with wild abandon, even though they didn’t wear pads, and he found himself trying to emulate them. One of those unique tenets that many sports have is that in Aussie Rules, you really did have to get stuck in when it was your turn to go. No one wanted to be known as a wimp! Not having any pads on made it damn scary at first, but he found he quickly got used to the physical contact, learned to make subtle adjustments to his positioning, and even started to enjoy the whole thing up to a point.

His folks were bemused by his sudden athleticism and even more so when they discovered he was playing Australian Football! Still, all this physical activity did seem to improve his stamina considerably when it came to using his magic. Translocating items a few hundred yards, two or three times in quick succession, no longer left him weak and worn out. Shoving things around using his kinetic force push spell thing became easier and easier. The temptation to try out the translocating between Earths grew with his increased performance and stamina, but he kept himself under control, although he did spend a lot of time considering the matter.

He was fairly sure that using that same spell and moving fifty Earths east would presumably get him to the Earth that Urasmian was from, in the same relative location, going on Urasmian’s experience. But the spell didn’t let him take much with him, just what he was wearing, apparently. Or, maybe, things that he was touching? There was much food for thought there, but until he decided to try translocating to a different world, there was no way of knowing the answer to a lot of his questions. When he translocated locally, he took everything he was wearing plus anything he was holding in his hands with him. And he was afraid to try translocating to another Earth until he had more confidence in his abilities. Or perhaps he was just afraid? Hmm. Yes. He had to admit he was quite scared of jumping to another Earth. One had to be honest with oneself, after all.

Chapter 12

China girl

Condor Con wasn’t the biggest or the best of the Cons, but it was the first Con that Jason had ever attended and therefore held a soft spot in Jason’s heart. He would never forget the excitement he had felt when his dad had led him through the entrance of the Convention for that very first time! Nowadays, of course, he went to conventions as much for the ‘scenery’ as for the special guests and events at the Cons. And this year, he went as himself, or at least his magical superhero alter ego! Ha. Where else can you dress like a superhero without drawing attention to yourself? At a fantasy Con, of course!

Sorry for being erratic lately people- had stuff going on. Here is a double snippet to help makeup

He started to spend a lot of time reading fantasy novels looking for magic spell ideas, between practicing his own magic and just lazing around. After years of school followed by university, where his whole life had revolved around study, study, and then even more study interspersed with bouts of writing essays, this being able to loll around doing little if he didn’t want to was very welcome! He imagined the novelty would wear off pretty soon, but he intended to enjoy his newly found idleness as much as he could in the short term!

His Steam account grew substantially as he tried all those games he had always wanted to play but had not bought either for fear of interrupting his studies or because he simply lacked the money to waste on games! He wondered if his parents understood just how much self-discipline he had developed over the last few years. Even after he started earning money part-time, which meant he could afford to buy a selection of games, he resolutely denied himself!

He studied the casinos at Atlantic City online and spent a long weekend there, flying in on the Friday and leaving on the following Monday. He stayed at one of the casinos with the highest table stakes but only played at their tables in short sessions, spending more time at the surrounding casinos. He left with forty thousand in cheques and nearly thirty thousand in cash! Woot! On the long flight back, he thought again about getting his own place but, in the end, decided against it for the moment. Instead of renting, what he’d rather do was buy a place of his own outright. He didn’t have anywhere near enough money to manage such a purchase outright, and with no job, it meant he wouldn’t be able to get a loan to buy something. Right. He decided he would just continue to save the money until he could buy something, and this became his game plan for the moment. Plus, he would use the loose cash for anything small he bought to hide it from the taxman!

He had also been contemplating the fact that he knew about multiple Earths. Urasmian came from an Earth that was fifty worlds east of Jason’s Earth. That meant there were forty-nine other Earths between here and there! It was kind of mind-boggling! On Urasmian’s Earth, things had gone very differently, apparently. So, what other alternate histories were out there? A world where Hitler won World War Two? One where the Roman Empire never fell? Oooh, one where the dinosaurs didn’t die out! He spent a lot of time considering the possibilities, although he refrained from actually trying to travel to a different Earth, at least not just yet. Using the magic spells he had discovered and developed so far left him drained and tired after just a little bit of use, so he had no wish to find himself on a planet of sorcerers while worn out and unable to do any magic himself!

One of the fantasy magic book series he enjoyed had a protagonist who stressed how physical exercise increased his stamina and made throwing around magic spells easier. He started going for a run every morning and discovered just how unfit he was! And yes, after a couple of weeks, the magic seemed to come easier and not tire him out quite as much. He found a karate dojo not too far away and started that sport but decided that while it was worthwhile, in many ways, it wasn’t the aerobic sport he was seeking. After thinking about the matter for some time, he considered trying soccer and even hunted up a local team on the internet, but before he tracked the team down, he found another choice.

He was watching ESPN one night and found a report on a game called Australian Rules Football which seemed to involve a lot of running and jumping plus plenty of physical contact, and further investigation confirmed this. He found a vid of a whole game on the internet and watched an hour of this game from down under, which left him very intrigued. At least as much running as soccer, plus tackling and physical interplay that was a bit like rugby or American Football, plus you had to be able to kick and catch the football. There was a lot to like!

Some searching on the internet found that there was a San Diego Australian Football team, and it seemed they were looking for new players for the next season. Before he knew it, he found himself training to play this strange game. The ball was obviously from the same family of balls from which the ball used in American Football had developed, but it was not as pointy. Some of the rules were pretty strange for someone who, while not a sports jock, had played some in High School as a wide receiver. So, he did at least understand American Football and had been a keen supporter of the college team. Still, the Aussies were sure into aerobic fitness, which was exactly what he had been trying to find!

He learned to kick using the Aussie drop punt style, not all that successfully, but he was accurate enough over short distances if he didn’t shank the kick badly off his boot. Using his magic to subtly nudge the ball into curving a little from either side gave him an impressive goal-kicking accuracy. He was careful about not using too much force when making the ball’s flight curve, but he became known as a very goal or miss completely sort of kicker. In the end, after some persuasion, the coach put him on the half-forward flank, which was a position where he could run up and down the field all day, which, after all, was his main aim in playing the foreign game. He also had the sneaky suspicion that he was given that position as much because they lacked any depth in their available players, and the coach didn’t want to lose a good prospect. Jason discovered this was true at their first real game as their reserves were just an old guy and two of the teenage sons of a couple of the older players. When he asked about the shortage of players, there were shrugs and sighs. Apparently, they had rarely fielded a full team in recent years. The only other regular player was a very overweight guy who always played full-forward when he turned up for a game. His work made it difficult for the fellow to get to training, and he missed a lot of games as well. He was told there weren’t that many people interested in playing.

The next two weeks, he spent working on spells. He had thought about the possibility of altering gravity and found that he could do it locally, after a fashion. Hmmm. He would have to think about the possible uses of that. The other, rather fancier spell he worked on was a lightning one. A thunderstorm had come over as he played around with the gravity modification spell, getting nowhere in particular. The storm had snuck up on him behind the ridge, and then he had been assailed by wind, rain, and rolling thunder almost without warning. He bolted for the truck as it boiled overhead, worried about getting hit by lightning as the big, dark clouds passed overhead. And then he thought about lightning and stepped back out of the truck and studied the storm.

He came up with a spell that would concentrate the air’s electrical charge and direct it at a particular spot. He ran it through his head a couple of times before he threw it, using a small, ragged tree thing down the track as the target. A lightning bolt blindingly sizzled into existence, creating a loud bang as the tree thing practically exploded in a shower of sparks, the flash momentarily turning his vision into a strange black and white abstract version of the scene. It took a moment, but once his eyes had adjusted back from the momentary blindness, he found all that was left was a smoldering hunk of the trunk and a few bits of burning branches or whatever spread around the immediate area. Woah!

And then there was another lightning strike, just over the rise. It was close enough he could feel the zing in the air. Then another lightning bolt struck the tree behind him. Shit! He jumped into the truck as another hit the bush he’d used as his target dummy. Hopefully, the rubber tires would shield the truck. Then the lightning strikes stopped just as suddenly as if he’d started them, and in ten minutes, the storm had rolled on, leaving a clear sky overhead and the gully awash in stormwater. Jason leaned back in the seat and relaxed his almost hyperventilation after the lightning attack, then he closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep. By the time he woke up, the mini torrent in the gully from the rainwater had largely run away, and things were getting back to normal.

It was clear he would need to practice how to handle lightning a good deal more! He supposed he would have to take the time to study storms academically and get a much better understanding of how they functioned. Then he could work out ways of using lightning strikes in a safer, more controlled manner! And definitely be careful about being out in the open when playing with an electrical storm! So, as he drove home, he added studying atmospheric electricity to his mental list of things to study further. It was getting to be a long list! But, at least there was plenty of information to be found on the internet! At that point, he suddenly realized what a major advantage he had over the sorcerers of Urasmian’s world. Hmmm. Something else to consider.

Monday, he remembered the email from Franny and wrote back saying that he would love to spend a bunch of money doing backbreaking manual labor in the cold north of Great Britain. Could she let him know as soon as possible so he could look into what was involved in getting an entry visa organized? He found a local place online that specialized in fancy clothes for re-enactors and fantasy con buffs and visited them. He might be leery about openly playing the superhero card, but he decided that he could at least afford a fancy outfit or two to wear! And no masks! Sheesh, that was so old hat and silly.

Franny sent him back a link to a website that led him to a page where he could apply to be part of the dig team as a volunteer. Hmm. At least the accommodation was pre-organized. He just had to get to Carlisle by the due date. Hmm. Right. Time to confer with the folks about his travel plans. Apply to the British Consulate in Los Angeles for a travel visa. And then, Saturday night, he hit a different casino in San Diego but kept it small and only came home with an extra two thousand dollars.

The following week, he liaised with the costume outfitters and finalized his purchases. He gained two identical pairs of boots, very seventeenth century in style. Inside they were made of modern materials, including waterproof lining, steel caps, and shock-resistant innersoles, while on the outside, they were black leather, calf-high, with fold-down tops that stood out a little rather than being flat like British top-boots. Very swashbucklery!

He acquired several pairs of denim trousers that were cut to look medieval or at least non-descript anyway. Internal stretch material at the waist meant they stayed up regardless, even though a tied cord ostensibly held them up. Four dress button-up shirts, with some laced frill stuff at the cuffs, two in white and two in black. Two cloth vests, one silky black to wear with the white shirts and one black with gold floral patterns, very Maverick, to wear with black shirts. A leather vest with metal studs offered a more medieval look giving him a third option. He was thinking that he might perhaps try visiting Urasmian. Maybe.

To round all this off, a modern style black, soft leather jacket, button-up, with a hood that was pointed so that it sat well out from his forehead and hung down a little, thus putting his face in permanent shadow. A long full cloak, very Assassin’s Creed but in black, with a similar hood to the jacket, rounded out the new wardrobe he had acquired. Back home, he played around with a light absorption spell placed on the hoods, which made the area underneath very dark, rendering it very hard to make out his face in any detail. He dressed in the white shirt version of his outfits and decided that he liked the look. He could even wear it to Condor Con without looking stupid. Well, not compared to some of the outfits that would be on show there!

He decided to go back to Vegas the following weekend and played at different casinos than he had on the first trip. Many of the casinos had smaller table stakes than those he had played at the first time, but when he flew out on Monday, he had made another thirty thousand dollars, twenty-six in three different cashier’s cheques and four thousand in cash. He worried that sooner or later, the Casinos would get wise to him and ban him from playing. He had tried a little craps, but that had been very hard. Trying to manipulate the dice on the mat without it looking hokey was just too difficult! Maybe he would have to practice that more. Or find some way to make money. Hmmm.

Given a couple of questions I have received recently here is a quick update.
The first Western Marches story – a continuation of Princess Gizel’s story – entitled:
The Mercenary
Should be out sometime this week.
The next story (70% written) will be Taroniah at Home
This will be followed by either Kyron the Conquerer or The Kelad Horde
I haven’t decided which I want to write first of those two.
Unfortunately I have no further ideas for wither Taroniah or Kyron until Bargan is in Fourth Year……
So what will follow after Conqueror or Horde I am not sure – I do have at least 5 other stories I could finish plus there is Jason that I’ve been snippeting – he has 4 other partially written books.
So – I have 3 other space opera stories plus a LitRPG type story – a Last Starfighter type story – 2 Alt Hist stories – a romance story set in Ithria 2 generations before Taroniah and Kyron – and more that I’ve partially written.
If anything takes your fancy – let me know

Chapter 11

Back home

Jason resisted the temptation to play more roulette as he felt mentally exhausted, mainly from the nervous tension that resulted from betting such large amounts. After a bit of a break and discovering that while he was mentally fatigued, he wasn’t really sleepy, he settled for going to a bar with a floor show before crashing into his hotel room bed. The next day, Jason reluctantly returned to San Diego while wishing he had booked to stay longer. He made an appointment to see someone at the large generic tax firm he got his tax accounts done by. He discovered that winning lots of money at a casino was nothing special; he quickly learned that poker players did it all the time. The amount he had won was merely added to his annual taxable income as he wasn’t a professional gambler. Given the downsides of being classed as a professional gambler, he decided he was happy to be classed as just a chance winner as far as the IRS was concerned. He would pay more tax as he couldn’t claim deductions, but he would have to fill out a lot less paperwork!

Once the check cleared, he decided he had better allow for the IRS and, after some consideration, settled on fifteen thousand for that task which he transferred into his high-interest savings account for well, higher interest. No bank offered a genuine high-interest return on people’s savings, but his account was not a too bad one, comparatively, provided he kept a minimum balance of a thousand in it. That was all he’d had left when he emptied it of the rest of his meager savings to use as a bankroll in Vegas. He’d re-deposit the cash he’d taken in the next couple of days from the twenty-something thousand in cash he had brought home. He bought some new clothes. And a new computer. A state-of-the-art, oh wow, type of computer. Yes! And he was still feeling no remorse for taking the casino’s money.

He also spent time considering his changed circumstances. The way he had been struggling along with a part-time job and largely living off his parents could come to an end if he wished. Hell, he could rent a decent apartment and pay a year in advance with the money he had in just the cash, let alone the rest. He shook his head. All right, just calm down! He thought to himself. Let’s not rush things!

It was true that there were advantages to living at home, but having his own place would surely be a good thing. But how could he explain his sudden wealth to his folks? Or to his friends, for that matter. Yes, he could say he got lucky in Vegas this time, but it would get a bit suspicious if he got lucky every time!

Hmmm. Okay, so he could palm some off by saying he got lucky at roulette or craps or whatever, and besides, he had already claimed to have won some at poker. Yes, that would do if he kept the obvious winnings moderate and came up with ways of hiding the rest from his family. He wasn’t keen on being sneaky about it or hiding things from his family, but he would have to do it that way until he came up with something better. And he couldn’t keep winning heaps at Vegas. The casinos there would smell a rat. So that meant the occasional trip to Atlantic City and some of the bigger casinos around the country, maybe even a couple of international places… ooh, Monte Carlo! Yes!

He swapped the chips around, so the stack of blacks formed part of the bet, and thirty red meant they were swept back into the float. it still left them with only three thousand in five-hundreds. He bet three thousand on red and hit thirty-two red with some help. Repeated the add two, keep one thousand drill, and decided to go easy on them and let the ball hit wherever. Twenty-two black, and he was only ten thousand up. He bet three on black. Twenty-six black. He took the usual one thousand and stacked the bet up to five thousand. At this point, security arrived with a chip delivery containing two stacks of orange chips.

After the paperwork was done, the dealer offered to change his chips. He had eight thousand dollars worth in his pocket and five thousand on the table. The five-hundreds were all changed for the orange one-thousands. The next spin came down four black, and he took his five thousand payout, giving him thirteen thousand in hand and five on the table. All right. Let it roll. The ball bounced and bobbled around the wheel, almost landed in five, and then bounced back into seventeen black. Ha. Eighteen thousand up. The next spin was nine red, and he had lost. He tried to make it seem like he had decided to stop mucking around and plonked five thousand down on red straight off.

Thirty-two red got his five thousand back. Twelve red took him to twenty-three thousand up. He let the ball bounce freely, and black four meant he lost the bet. Five thousand on black and had to nudge the ball into Thirteen black. Then thirty-one black, and the next spin, a free one, hit eight black, and he was thirty-three thousand up. The spin after that was nine red, and he decided to go one sequence more. He bet five thousand on red using the same apparent system he’d been using the whole time. He had to nudge the ball into seven red, and it was sort of late and looked a little dodgy to Jason, but the bets were paid. The next spin was twenty-one red without any help, and he was thirty-eight thousand up, and they had to pay him with their two remaining orange chips and three thousand in five-hundreds. He left the small chips and two of the thousands out there. The next spin was also red, sixteen, and they only had five-hundreds left for the payout. Finally, a black came up, and he lost.

Right. So, let’s see what happens now, he thought to himself. He nodded to the dealer and threw him a five-hundred chip over as a tip before heading for the cashier. He was forty-two thousand and five hundred dollars up after the dealer tip. He had to give them his details, including tax information, and they paid him with a check for forty thousand and cash for the balance of the chips, three-thousand and five-hundred dollars. No one tried to stop him as he left, and having had such a good run at the tables, he took no chances at being mugged and got a taxi back to his hotel.

They did the cash change. The supervisor okayed it and made a note on his clipboard. He put the two chips on black and used the kinetic spell to nudge the ball from three into twenty-four black. He doubled the bet and watched as the ball plopped straight into fifteen black the next spin. He then took one thousand off the table, his original bet, and left three thousand. The next spin tried to land in thirty red, but he used the spell to nudge it over into eleven black. He added one thousand of the winnings to the bet and took two thousand off. This time he made no attempt to prevent the ball from landing in one red, and the dealer took his chips away. He was still two thousand up.

He took the two thousand he was up and put them on red. The ball came up nineteen without any help from him, and he repeated his earlier ploy of adding one thousand of the pay-out chips to the stack and taking one thousand away. The next spin had the ball bobbling around, and it looked like landing in ten, so he used the kinetic spell to push it into five red. He repeated his betting method of adding one thousand of the winnings to the bet and pocketing the remaining two thousand. He was now up three thousand. He let the bet ride unsupported, and the ball landed in one red anyway. All right. Follow the system.  He added one thousand to the bet to make it the table maximum of five thousand. Indeed, the dealer checked the amount under the direction of the supervisor. The next number up was black, and the five thousand was swept away. But he was now ahead six thousand with the extra win.

He pulled some chips out of his pocket and put three thousand on black. Eleven came up again without needing any help from him, and he added two thousand to the bet and pocketed one thousand. The next spin, he had to help the ball into twenty-eight black and so collected five thousand. Nine thousand up. He left the bet out there and refrained from helping the ball land in a black number again, and double zero came up. Losers all. Good. Mind you, the supervisor and the suit were still watching him, although not as intently as the fellow the previous day.

He made a show of hesitating with his next bet, then not betting at all on the next spin. The result was black, so he bet that for three thousand. Nudged the next ball into seventeen black, took one of the winning three thousand, and added the remaining two thousand to the now maximum bet, which the dealer checked. Eight black without any need for interference, and he took his five thousand payout. Twelve thousand up. He left the next spin alone and still hit twenty black. Seventeen thousand up, and they had run out of five-hundreds and had to pay him partially in hundreds.

late sorry –

Finding a table, he put three thousand on red, hit five red straight off without him having to help, and noticed the man in the dark, expensive-looking suit who was watching him from the other side of the podium in the middle of the pit. The close-in supervisor woman whose table he was playing on was watching closely as well. Right! I’ve been noticed! Let’s start playing games. He left five thousand on red and pocketed one thousand. A flick and twenty-three red. Five thousand. He left his bet on red, but with this spin, he made sure the number was black, so his bet lost. He pulled chips back out of his pocket and put three thousand on black. Twenty-nine black. Did the same as the previous time and put one thousand in his pocket and left five thousand on black.

The ball bobbled and bounced and settled into eleven black without needing help, and he pocketed the five-thousand. On the next spin, he needed to help the ball into fifteen black, and he pocketed another five thousand. He was up seven in total at this table, so he let the ball go where it wanted on the next spin. It bounced into two, then zero, then rolled over into twenty-eight black, and he had won again. He left the five thousand on black again, and this time it came up seven red, and the dealer swept his chips away. Of course, he was now up twelve thousand. He sauntered over to the bar, had a drink to soothe his nerves, then cashed four thousand out at the cashier. Then he went and had dinner before he returned to the cashier for another four thousand cash out.

He wandered around the whole establishment for a bit. Found a spot where he could sit and ogle some pretty girls having drinks before going out on the town. He was mentally too exhausted to do any more, and his head was now pounding, so he waited another hour before he noticed the shift changing in the cashier’s booth. In the process, his headache decreased somewhat. He delayed another thirty minutes before cashing out his remaining four thousand in chips, and then he headed out to the front, where he grabbed a cab back to his hotel. Once he was back in his room, he counted out the money he had made and found it came to twenty-eight thousand dollars for just that one day! Holy shit!

The problem now was, what did he do with the money? If he banked it, the IRS would be all over him, although he supposed that for this time around, if he banked a bit here and there over time, they probably wouldn’t notice. Maybe. And pay for everything in cash. Hmm. The trouble was that if he openly won big amounts like this in the casinos and cashed them out legally, it was not really the fact he would have to pay tax that was the problem. Rather, he suspected the real problem would be the casinos realizing how much he was winning and banning him from entry. Although if he did that win, win, lose type thing regularly, it may take them a while to twig. Hmm. Okay, he thought to himself, tomorrow I’ll try that at another casino.

The Bellagio looked nice, what with that fountain display out the front which he sat and watched for a while. They had three five-thousand max tables to choose from, which was even better. He plonked down a thousand.

“How do you want it?” Asked the dealer.

“You got any thousand chips?”

The dealer boggled and then glanced over at his cash chips. “No. Only five hundreds.”

“Two of them then, please.”

Because of the way the tax laws worked in the US, he didn’t want to bring himself to the attention of the IRS, so he wandered over to the cashier and changed four thousand worth of the chips. He then made his way slowly to another table and bet two thousand again, this time on red, and after collecting his winnings, went to a third table and bet two thousand on red again. He nearly had the zero come up, but the ball flipped out, and then he nudged it into fourteen and collected another two thousand. He cashed out the four thousand he had won before heading to the bar, where he sat and relaxed. The tension he had been feeling gradually eased over a cold Coke! He had a personal rule of not drinking alcohol on the job!

Deciding he had done enough damage to this establishment, he cashed his remaining four thousand in chips and headed out the door. Out in the street, he hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to Caesar’s Palace. Inside, this famous establishment was much more upmarket, bigger, brassier, and busier. He wandered around the casino floor and found a table with a five-thousand upper limit and what looked to be five-hundred-dollar chips in the float, as they called the area where all the chips were, and this time started by cashing in just five hundred dollars. The dealer looked a bit surprised when Jason asked for a single five-hundred chip but complied, and the jacket-wearing person okayed the transaction, after which Jason placed the chip on red.

The dealer started to say. “Chips…”

But the suit cut them off with a. “Yeah.”

The ball lobbed into twenty-four black, and Jason flicked the kinetic spell to make the ball jump forward into thirty-six red. The dealer hadn’t noticed the jump as he was watching the layout, and the jacket person was attending to something on the next table over. He doubled up the two chips and waited for the next spin.

The obligatory.

“Chips played.”

That got the supervisor back for the end of the spin, but fortunately, the ball lobbed straight into thirty-red, and Jason was paid again. He removed one of the now four chips and put it in his pocket before stacking the other three up.

The next spin saw the ball bobble into thirty-one, then ‘bounced’ into eighteen red, and Jason was paid again. He stacked the chips up, then made as if he was going take his winnings and run, then shook his head and plopped them back down on red for the fourth time. The number of bets on black grew a little. He thought the ball was going to land on the zero, but it bobbled out, danced with landing in twenty-eight, and then finished in nine red, all without him doing anything!

He now had six thousand in winnings. He took two chips and put them on black while he pocketed the rest. The next spin had the ball look like it was going to stop in thirty red, so Jason flicked the spell, and it tipped over into eleven black. The supervisor was watching closely now, so he collected his ill-gotten gains and sauntered off. He went to one of the bars and had a drink while relaxing from the tension that had stiffened up his neck and shoulders. He was also developing a headache and thought about packing it in for the evening but decided to play on and win a bit more. He wandered over to the cashier’s booth and cashed four and half thousand, his original five hundred and four thousand in winnings. After settling himself mentally, he headed back to the roulette tables and looked for another one with the five-thousand upper limit.