The Continuing Saga of:
”ICICLE BILL and Tommy Two-Head”

Chapter Fifteen: Lucky the Lonely

    Blinky Mo and Heavy Griz hit the freeway leaving Las Vegas in a controlled panic. Blinky made sure he wasn’t speeding, but every opportunity to weave through traffic, he took. Griz nervously watched the rear for cops, and the sky for helicopters. When they were safely out of city limits and on open road they both sighed with relief.

    ”Man Blinks, that was too close.”

    Blinky smiled crookedly in agreement. ”Yeah brother, those cops were just making that turn when we booked. Another second and they had us.” They both relaxed a bit, but knew an APB on the car would probably be out there. They needed to get a good distance from Vegas but driving the five hour stretch directly to L.A. seemed a gamble. They were both hyper-amped on adrenaline but trying valiantly to hold it together. They hadn’t found Gangster G, however, the kilo of top line meth and one-hundred thousand dollars more than made up for it. Griz spoke what they both were wondering.

    ”You think G’s really dead?”

    ”I think so, he was bleeding bad, remember? Who the hell were those guys in the Lincoln? Where’d they come from?”

    Griz thought a second, ”I dunno man, but a hundred-thousand for G’s sis,” ”Damn Blinks, I don’t even care! We came up!”

    Griz pulled out the giant baggie of meth and scooped out a couple of nice piles. The two compadres helped themselves to a few generous snorts, blasted the radio and reflected on how freaking lucky they were. In the back of Griz’s mind he wondered where he had seen that Lincoln before. The nagging thought was killing his high though. They stopped briefly for gas and beers and he put it out of his mind.

    Two hours into the drive to L.A., Blinky and Griz were heavily cranked up and getting paranoid. Every trailing car seemed to be a cop, every on-coming vehicle, a potential threat. Blinky was especially nervous.

    ”Griz, I seriously think we should get off the highway.”

    ”To where? Ain’t nothing but sand and desert out here. If we stop at anyplace like the Stateline Casino we’re sitting ducks. There ain’t no place else to stop that’s safe. This is the only road I know to L.A. We gotta drive straight through.”

    They were about halfway between L.A. and Vegas on a particularly. lonely stretch of blacktop when it hit Griz like a brick to the head. ”The Lincoln!” Blinky barely heard him. ”What? What Lincoln?”

    ”That white Lincoln those two dudes were in. That’s the same car we almost hit coming up. They drove right outta the desert right around here someplace...it was right around here!”

    Griz was getting excited, he was sweating and he looked over-heated. Blinky was watching him closely. Griz was a big guy and with the meth pumping through him, no telling what it was doing to his heart. He seemed to be losing his breath a bit. ”Griz, you alright? GRIZ!”

    Heavy Griz was pressing back against the seat and clutching his chest, gasping for air. Blinky hurriedly pulled the car over to see what he could do for his friend. He tried to think but his mind was racing. There wasn’t anyone around for miles; if he went back to a phone to call for help would it be too late? If they waited around here and the highway patrol came, that definitely wouldn’t work out. He ran out onto the middle of the highway to flag down help. The only travelers heading up the road were a couple on a motorcycle. Blinky waved his arms frantically and they slowed to a stop. Maybe his luck was holding up after all. Blinky hardly noticed the midget girl riding on the back of the bike.

* * * * *

    A week after her run-in with her brother’s homeboys, G Lu was dealing cards at the Pioneer Hotel and Casino, eight hours a day, seven days a week. She also took a housekeeping shift, ignoring the other maids who whispered behind her back, wondering why such a pretty girl would be cleaning rooms. She worked all the hours at the mundane jobs so she wouldn’t have to think. Not about her past, present or future. It definitely wasn’t for the money. She wondered how other people managed on such short wages but she’d had her fill of the so called ”opportunities” out there for her. Cocktail waitress, dancer, escort...they all eventually lead to the same thing. Reaching up for the money, grabbing at it like it’s your God meant inevitably falling on your back, legs kicked open by choice, circumstances or compromise. How much each individual is willing to sell or give of themselves, depending on their own degree of self-respect, or self-loathing, or where they came from and how solid a foundation their psyche is built on. G Lu’s world was built on quicksand and every step she took seemed to drag her deeper into the abyss. When she’d arrived in Vegas at age nineteen she had beauty, brains and enthusiasm...at twenty what she needed was discipline, self-control and good judgment.

    Since she had learned of the death of her brother, she’d quit dancing, changed her phone number and moved to the other side of town. Without the make-up, high heels and costumes, she melted into the crowds and lights and hub-bub of Sin City just like everybody else. Nameless, faceless, blameless and hopeless...

    When Tommy Two-Head wandered into the casino and sat down at G Lu’s table, a hint of recognition passed between them. He only met her intent gaze one time, after that the hours passed as she dealt him one losing hand after another. The gloom and sadness G Lu felt inside seemed to be mirrored in the pale, slump-shouldered demeanor of Tom. She’d only ever seen him once before. It was the night he and his friend had risked their lives to step in when her brother’s homeboys meant her harm. They’d also delivered the bad news of G’s death and later crashed their car into an on-coming police car to allow her time to get away. Why? And how had her brother died? Till now she had not wanted to even think about any of that. Now this stranger had shown up like a ghost from her past to remind her. Maybe it was a sign of some kind, meant to force her to deal with the pain instead of letting it weigh her down like a lead cloud constantly hanging overhead.

    Deftly, she began feeding Tom face cards. She busted out repeatedly, allowing his chip stack to rise. If she was going to hang out after her shift and face the explanation she felt the stranger owed her, he was buying breakfast. Her replacement arrived and as G Lu left the table she whispered to Tom, ”Denny’s, two blocks south, get a booth.”

    Denny’s was surprisingly crowded at six a.m. and Tom secured a booth near the windows. He ordered coffee and waited. He also hadn’t spent much time reflecting on the past days and weeks. What’s the use in it? You make your choices, take your lumps and if luck or fate allows, you move on. He hoped G Lu would show up. Her kind of beauty was rare and just being around her felt good.

    She appeared suddenly in a haze of subtle perfume and light. One second he was in gloomy solitude, the next, the air seemed filled with excitement and energy. Waitresses appeared, orders were taken, the whole restaurant seemed to come alive. Voices were louder and cheerier, warm sunshine glittered off the silverware. Tom didn’t know if it was his imagination, but this sad beautiful creature seemed to elevate the whole atmosphere by her presence. She spoke, ”You know, if you’re going to play blackjack, you should learn how.”

    His concerns about holding up his end of the conversation were misplaced. For the next two hours she talked, he listened. ”Always look for the inexperienced dealer. They’re usually young, not always though. If they look at the cards while shuffling, it means either they’re unsure of their skill or they’re setting the deck. Always look for a single-deck table, less face cards, easier to count. If you’re on a winning streak, ride it out. If you’re on a roll and they switch dealers, leave...”

    Tom didn’t interrupt, he just soaked it in. Afterwards they talked about the whole chain of events that lead to their meeting and what he knew of her brother’s death. How Icicle Bill had rolled up to that tree in the desert where Tom was tied, G’s body in the passenger seat. How Gangster G’s death had saved Tom’s life and how in turn they had sought her out to save hers.

    G Lu sat staring into her coffee. The pain and sorrow she felt was evident on her face. Watching this vulnerable woman in such pain, hurt Tom to his core. The ache in his brain and heart was unfamiliar, he’d lived his entire life without feeling much of anything. It had been one long journey of avoiding feeling. Now, his senses were alive as if for the first time.

    G Lu quit the housekeeping shift and they spent the next weeks trolling the casinos as she taught him how to gamble. She educated him on the virtues of progressive betting, where there’s no possible way of losing, as long as your bankroll could handle the load and you didn’t get kicked out. She introduced him around to the housekeepers and showed him how to use vacant hotel rooms for sleeping for free. As long as he tidied up after and tipped the night manager, it worked.

    Things were going pretty good for Tom. The scars and sunburn of the desert were beginning to fade. Even G Lu seemed to be perking up some. Not so sullen and sulky, sometimes even a bit comical and light-hearted.

    Tom felt good, he felt his luck had finally changed for the better. Sometimes he thought about Icicle Bill and wished it could have turned out better for his friend. He was making a little money with G Lu’s gambling system and saving on food and lodging by freeloading off the hotels in the casinos. He didn’t have to camp out in the smashed up Lincoln at the police impound anymore. The best part, he got to hang out with the beyond sumptuous G Lu. Yep, thinks were looking up.

* * * * *

    The shadowy figure stood alert and at the ready. He had been trailing G Lu and Tommy Two-Head for the past two days and he was getting tense. Not enough sleep, too much coffee and a loaded gun with a hair trigger is a dangerous cocktail. Throw in a shot of bad attitude and you’ve got a gasoline fire waiting to ignite.

END PART THREE