Brittany bit her lip, her fists clenched. “I’m a
minor. The law can’t touch me. What can you
do?”
I smiled. “Give it a couple of days. You’ll see.”
<
((
41
The principal arrived, panting, his fat face slick with sweat, his shirt buttoned crookedly. He’d clearly jumped out of bed and rushed over.
“Do you want to go to jail?” He slammed the pictures on his desk. “We have you on camera!”
“Oh.” I looked around for a comfortable place
to sit. His chair looked the best. I pulled him up, sat down, and crossed my legs. “So, call the cops.”
I’d worn a mask and a hat. They couldn’t prove
it was me. Besides, with the school’s
anniversary and the superintendent’s visit, he couldn’t afford any bad press.
I watched his face turn from red to purple. He didn’t say a word.
“Principal,” I said, “I’ll make it easy for you. I’ll
1711
TU
Lall
<
confess. I’ll go on TV, tell everyone how sorry I
am.” I pulled out my phone, dialed 911, held my
finger over the call button. “How about a public
apology? Is that enough?”
He grabbed my arm, his face a mask of
frustration. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” I smirked, pulling my arm
away. “Don’t you know what I want?”
I wanted a cigarette. Not one of mine.
I opened his desk drawer. A pack of Marlboros.
Fancy.
I lit one, took a long drag, and blew the smoke
in his face.
“The show’s just getting started, Principal.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
“Robert Miller, 44. High school dropout. Used
to be a bricklayer, then worked construction with his brother–in–law. Got caught stealing materials. Worked on a factory assembly line for ten years, made it to line supervisor.”
Alex slammed his hand on the table. “Small- time crook. What’s the big deal?”
I smiled. “Brittany’s mom hasn’t left her side since that day. Walks her to and from school every day. Seems like she’s actually scared.”
“Wouldn’t you be? I heard those girls… the accident… they haven’t recovered. Probably scarred for life.”
One of the giants opened the door. “Mr. Alex, it’s done.”
“That fast?” I asked, surprised.
“Duh,” Alex said, “You think any casino would
turn away three hundred grand? That’s what it
<
took to set this whole thing up.”
Robert Miller was a gambler. Spent his nights
playing mahjong at the local parlor. Small
stakes, but enough to feed the addiction. He
didn’t have the connections to get into a real
casino.
We paid one of his mahjong buddies a thousand bucks to lose to him, on purpose. Five hundred the first day, a thousand the second, five thousand the third. He kept losing, but his pockets never seemed to empty.
After a week, Robert finally asked, “You win the lottery? Where’s all this money coming from?”
“Don’t worry about it. You complaining about winning?”
Robert kept probing, but the buddy stayed silent.
く
That night, we sent the buddy to the casino.
Sure enough, Robert followed, lurking in the
shadows.
An hour later, we gave the buddy three
thousand dollars in cash. He walked out. Robert
pounced.
“Where’d you get all that cash? What did you do?”
The buddy looked around nervously. “Keep it down! I won it.”
“In there… is that… an underground casino?”
The buddy pulled him aside. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? High rollers in there. Millions changing hands every night! You could live for a year on their spare change.”
“You won with your skills?” Robert scoffed.
<
“Nah, you just find someone who’s lucky and
bet with them.”
“That easy?”
We heard Robert gulp through the earpiece.
Alex and I grinned. He was hooked.
Robert was cautious at first. Brought three
thousand dollars. The casino owner let him win
thirty. His eyes lit up.
Once was enough. He came back again, and
again. The owner kept letting him win
–
fifty
thousand, sixty thousand, a hundred thousand.
One night, he walked away with a hundred and
fifty grand.
Robert’s bets got bigger, starting at a hundred
thousand a pop. I did the math. The three
hundred thousand we’d given the owner was
gone.
<
“Aren’t you worried he won’t be able to pay
up?” I asked the owner.
He just laughed. “You gotta give them a taste
of the sweet life first. The sweetness comes
first, then the bitterness. Once they’re in, they
only know how to lose, not quit.”
A month later, the owner started reeling him in.
Robert started losing more than he won. Small
wins, big losses. When he ran out of cash, the
owner let him write IOUS. Then he’d let Robert
win a bit, enough to go home with a few
thousand in his pocket. That way, he wouldn’t
notice how many IOUS he was racking up. He thought he was on a winning streak, a god of
gambling.
After another two weeks, Robert had a stack of
IOUS. Over nine hundred thousand dollars. He
had about twenty grand in winnings in his
pocket.
<
Time for me to make my entrance.
Lily’s wounds had healed. The Millers hadn’t
visited once. We didn’t ask for the medical
expenses. They didn’t offer. Typical.
It didn’t matter. I was about to take everything they had.
“Brother, my classmates are talking about you.”
“Oh? What are they saying?”
“They say you’re brave. They wish they had a
big brother like you.”
That felt good.
“They get bullied by Brittany too, but no one
stands up for them.”
“The teachers don’t do anything?”
<
- )
40
Lily shook her head. “Brittany gets good
grades. The teachers just look the other way.”
“Turning a blind eye is another form of
bullying.” I sneered. “Don’t worry, Lily. Brittany
won’t be around much longer.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to put on a show.”
Before knocking on the Millers‘ door, I checked
my reflection. Unshaven, messy hair, ripped shirt. I wanted to look pathetic.
“You?” Robert was looking prosperous, decked out in expensive clothes. “Get lost! I don’t want to see you!” He tried to slam the door.
I stuck my foot in, wedged my way inside. The
house was brightly lit. Wine, ham, crab legs on
the table. Living the high life. A BMW key fob
lay on top of a cigarette pack. He took out a
loan to him and Wow many Vidnon did ho
く
loan to buy a car? How many kidneys did he
think he had?
