Me, Dad, and Mom were all gambling in a very small, dimly lit casino... which felt like it was in Atlantic City, but I can't be sure. But it was set up in what felt like the basement of a house, because there were even stairs just next to the bank of slot machines that we were playing on.
I was playing the slot on the end, and Mom and Dad were playing near the middle of the row. I had hit something small on mine, and while it was ringing up the credits I put some money in the slot next to me and next to Dad, and that one started hitting as well.
Dad finally got a really good reel combination with lots of good symbols (I can't remember what they were though... it was like a generic machine) and all the bells and lights went off. He had me babysit his machine as it was counting up the credits, because he had to run to the bathroom. By the time it had finished and printed out the ticket, it was above $7000.
Dad hadn't returned yet, and Mom was wanting to take the ticket to the cashier to get it turned into real money, so she headed off that way and left me to continue playing on the machines. Several more minutes had passed and neither of them came back yet, so I cashed out my machines and headed towards the cashier area.
Mom was there, and she had gotten the money for the winning jackpot ticket, but she was just standing there, unsure of where to go next. She didn't seem extra worried... she was just sort of "on pause" in that spot, standing still while all of the hustle and bustle went on around here. When she saw me she was relieved, but again, didn't seem super worried.
We decided then that it was time to take a break from the casino and headed up the nearby stairs.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Sunday, July 03, 2016
Looking After
I was living in a small one bedroom apartment, and since Mom was staying with me I had been sleeping on the couch at nights. This particular night Genesee was also there, and she had already fallen asleep on my couch so I was trying to sleep in the recliner but Mom kept coming out and using the phone. It was keeping me awake, but it wasn't bothering Genesee, as I was doing my best to make sure Mom remembered that someone else was sleeping in the apartment.
The most recent phone call, the one that had woken me back up, was actually when Dad called from work to talk to her. I could overhear his end of the conversation, and he was talking to her about how he had gotten time off of work because he had won a free trip to Florida for all of us, and he was giving her all of the details.
Mom was getting a little bothered though, because she thought that he was telling her that she had to move to Florida by herself, so I ended up taking the phone from her so I could get the details and then relay the correct information to Mom. He needed to know our social security numbers for the prize forms, because they wouldn't issue him the plane tickets until they had all of our information.
By the time I got off of the phone, Mom had left the apartment. Since it was the middle of the night and really dark out, I tried to wake Genesee so she could help me figure out where she went, but since Gen had just traveled all day to get to the apartment - she was whupped and I couldn't wake her up.
I apparently lived in a rough part of whatever town I was in, because when I went outside it reminded me of a dark version of what John Constantine sees in that movie when he takes his trips to hell. Wind was blowing, ash and dirt was coming off of everything, not a living soul in sight... no way to know which direction Mom went.
I remember thinking how odd it was that we were trying to plan a vacation, trying to do something fun, when all of this other bad stuff was going on and Mom was nowhere to be found.
The most recent phone call, the one that had woken me back up, was actually when Dad called from work to talk to her. I could overhear his end of the conversation, and he was talking to her about how he had gotten time off of work because he had won a free trip to Florida for all of us, and he was giving her all of the details.
Mom was getting a little bothered though, because she thought that he was telling her that she had to move to Florida by herself, so I ended up taking the phone from her so I could get the details and then relay the correct information to Mom. He needed to know our social security numbers for the prize forms, because they wouldn't issue him the plane tickets until they had all of our information.
By the time I got off of the phone, Mom had left the apartment. Since it was the middle of the night and really dark out, I tried to wake Genesee so she could help me figure out where she went, but since Gen had just traveled all day to get to the apartment - she was whupped and I couldn't wake her up.
I apparently lived in a rough part of whatever town I was in, because when I went outside it reminded me of a dark version of what John Constantine sees in that movie when he takes his trips to hell. Wind was blowing, ash and dirt was coming off of everything, not a living soul in sight... no way to know which direction Mom went.
I remember thinking how odd it was that we were trying to plan a vacation, trying to do something fun, when all of this other bad stuff was going on and Mom was nowhere to be found.
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