They played hearts, counting out their tricks with Anne tallying them up. Anne told her about how the kids were doing just wonderful in the city and both had found places and how Jen had moved in with her boyfriend. She talked about her store and the economy and how it looked like it was going to be a rough year, but how it could never be as bad as it was back in ninety-six. Then she asked after Debbie’s kids and job. The kids were good, the job still just part time.
Anne dealt again and they both looked over their cards and told each other what garbage they had. After they counted up their score, Anne said, “I hear you been over at the new casino.”
Debbie looked up. “I went over once to see what it looked like.”
Anne looked down at her cards. She said, “Debbie. I hear it’s more than once. And from a few people.” Debbie didn’t say anything. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with gambling. I like Vegas as much as anyone, but that’s different — there you can take in a show, there’s entertainment. That place is just slots and Keno. You can’t win, and there’s no fun when you’re losing.”
Debbie shuffled the cards and dealt. Anne left her cards lying face down while Debbie sorted her hand. Anne said, “I know things have been tight.”
“I’m doing okay, okay?”
They played quietly after that. After a few more hands Anne won. She asked if they should play another round. Debbie said she actually had plans. At the door, Anne pulled Debbie into a hug, then lingered. Anne said, “I know it’s been a hard few years for you. You know you don’t need to worry about the money you owe me.”
Debbie thanked her and closed the door. She put their cups in the sink and walked out onto the patio and watched the cars driving by below.
***
Debbie checked her account. Her work cheque had cleared and there was just enough to cover rent, but they were threatening to cut off the power so she had to deal with that first. Back at home she called her bank and let them know about her long history with them and explained that she had to make some unexpected loans to family members and wondered if they could extend her overdraft. The bank teller on the phone let her know he was very sorry to say he could not.
She tried one of her credit card companies. They could give her a higher limit, but that would change her interest rate to something less favourable. She okayed it, then paid off her hydro bill. She put a little on her phone to keep them happy, and paid the minimum on one of her other credit cards. Then she headed out for lunch. After, she explained to the waitress that she forgot her debit card at home and wondered if she could do cash back on the credit card. The waitress said she could.
Debbie wanted to make her twenty last, so she stuck to the penny slots where she couldn’t bet more than ten cents at a time. She didn’t like these games; the screens had ten rows and dozens of shapes; there were more ways to win and more to lose, but it was just a swirling mess of lights that was impossible for her to follow. Sometimes her credits went up, sometimes down, and she was never too sure why.
“Deb?” Debbie turned around. Valerie Marston squealed and wrapped Debbie in a hug. They tried to figure out when the last time they’d seen each other and figured it must have been when their boys graduated, which was in ninety-nine. Could they believe it was that long? “And imagine, meeting at this shithole!” Val grabbed Debbie’s forearm and laughed.
Debbie said, “I live across the street, I’ve been wondering what it looked like inside since it opened.”
“Oh, shit. I come here every couple weeks for the Keno. Rick hates it, I blow half my pay sometimes.” Val laughed again. “But what the hell, huh. You only live once.”
Debbie said she probably should be going and hit the button to cash out. They left together and at Val’s car hugged and made plans to see each other again. Once Val was clear of the parking lot, Debbie turned around and went back in.
***
Her son visited with the grandkids. The two boys tore around the house while her and Jack tried to talk. One of the boys knocked all the mail off the chair it was stacked on and Jack finally turned on the TV and sat them in front of it. He carried the papers back to the kitchen table and handed them to his mom. “Not opening your mail?”
“Oh, it’s just junk.”
“You doing okay?”
“I’m doing okay.”
“I was at Aunt Anne’s shop.”
“Anne doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“She can help mom. We all know things haven’t been great since you and dad split up.”
Debbie got up and poured herself a glass of water, then went in to where the kids were watching TV. She tickled one and sat down beside him. Jack joined her and they watched cartoons for bit and then she said she had some plans that afternoon and needed to clear out soon. The boys ran around getting their stuff together and then they were all at the door trying to leave.
She gave them a few minutes before pulling on her jacket. There was a fifty in one of the pockets. She was sure it wasn’t there before and she realized: Jack. She decided to leave it on the table and return it, but then she was in the elevator, slowly heading down to the lobby with the fifty still on her.
At the bank machine, she saw that a work check had cleared, which put her account just under zero. With the overdraft, that gave her a couple hundred to work with. She paid off two of the credit card minimums and then put fifty on her phone bill because they called every day to tell her they were going to cut her off. That maxed out her overdraft again, and hydro was due and she was still driving without insurance and rent was coming up again. But she had that fifty cash, which wasn’t enough for the months of insurance she owed or rent, and it was found money besides.
She tried a different approach with the machines. Rather than abandoning one that wasn’t paying out, she stayed with it — the more the losses added up, the better her chances of a win. She fed the bill into a machine and went down to twenty before hitting a jackpot that sent her to a hundred. She switched machines, again, waiting for a big payout. She lost steadily, with enough occasional small wins to keep her going. When she levelled out at fifty she thought about cashing out and putting the money aside for Jack, but she was sure that she would get another win because there was no way a machine could lose that much. Her credits went down and she started betting two or three credits rather than the max. She dwindled. With under ten dollars left she decided to bet it all at once and be done with it.
All the lines on the board connected. A light started flashing and she thought she’d somehow set off an alarm before she realized all the lines were connected.
***
Debbie got pulled over coming home from work. She asked the officer what seemed to be the problem and he told her that her licence plate sticker showed that her insurance had expired. She let the officer know she was sure that couldn’t be right. She dug out her papers and told him how shocked she was and that she felt so dumb that it had slipped her mind and promised she’d go in and pay right away. The officer asked her if she wouldn’t mind holding on for just one second and took her license back to his cruiser. He came back less friendly; it seemed she’d already been given two warnings about the expired insurance.
