noticeably unusual amongst the other passengers who drank and caroused their way from deck to deck, cabin to cabin.
We aimed for the bar and I was sorely tempted to break the habit of a lifetime and take a drink. The old man had me order a bottle anyway so that he could partake. The bar staff all wore the same fixed smile—which sounds like one of those literary terms but I'm no Patrick Irish, I mean it literally—the smiles were fixed with hooks and nails, gaping lips yanked apart to reveal their teeth. I guess the owner took his customer service seriously. I did my best to ignore them, turning instead towards the stage which was filled with dancing girls cavorting in so lewd a manner I couldn't take my eyes off them (while also being struck by a paralysing embarrassment. I was, you'll remember, something of an innocent back then). The troupe high-kicked to the piped dance numbers, revealing their naked under carriages to the eager whooping of the front row. My attention was caught in particular by a brunette left of centre, she was quite simply the most beautiful woman I'd ever set eyes on. Her hair in tight tresses, her eyes wild, she danced with such enthusiasm I was utterly swept away by her. The innocent boy inside me did his best to focus on her face, as if he were somehow insulting her to do likewise. He didn't always manage. I’d seen a hypnotist routine on stage once, a crusty old German with a pointy beard striking people brainless with the power of his 'magical mesmerism', leading them around as mindless puppets. He could have saved himself the effort; even at that young age I knew the surest way of making a man forget himself was to put a pair of jiggling titties in front of him. It reduces even the most intelligent specimen to the likes of a panting dog.
"Caught your eye has she?" the old man asked.
"Who?" I blustered, doing my best to feign innocence.
He took another mouthful of his drink. "You watch yourself boy, a woman like that is sure to eat you alive."
I shrugged in pretend indifference and went back to watching and dreaming my sordid little thoughts.
"It's a woman we're looking for," he said, "but you won't find her up there. If you can tear your eyes away she's likely to be on one of the gaming tables."
I pretended I was only too happy to leave, sparing one last glance towards the stage where I swore the girl tipped me a wink.
2.
W HILE THE BAR had been a raucous and carefree place, the casino took things more seriously.
Not that it was quiet, the room was huge, containing somewhere in the region of thirty or forty gaming tables. The call of bets, the spin of roulette wheels and the riffling of cards made a wall of sound that rivalled the calliope and cheering next door. The atmosphere was wholly different though, for every occasional cheer of celebration, most in the room wore masks of intense concentration, fear and anger. This was a place where fortunes were lost more than won.
I moved past a large woman, bulging in a dress of red satin that made her look like some thing a butcher had just removed from a carcass.
"My luck's going to turn," she said, "just you see, any minute now my luck's going to turn."
She closed her eyes and muttered prayers to whichever god might offer her best odds and the wheel was spun. I glanced past her, wanting to see if her prayer was answered. The wheel looked like a living thing, built from cured meat and bone, the ball that bounced between its divisions like a bullet reverberating around a rib cage. It fell into black twenty-two, and she crumpled in despair.
"God damn the thing," she sighed, "maybe next time... yes, maybe next time..." she began to shake, like she was having some kind of fit and then, slowly toppled to one side. The crowd parted, and she fell crashing to the floor, still quivering as she lay there.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked but the old man grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"Don't interfere with the house business. Or we'll
We aimed for the bar and I was sorely tempted to break the habit of a lifetime and take a drink. The old man had me order a bottle anyway so that he could partake. The bar staff all wore the same fixed smile—which sounds like one of those literary terms but I'm no Patrick Irish, I mean it literally—the smiles were fixed with hooks and nails, gaping lips yanked apart to reveal their teeth. I guess the owner took his customer service seriously. I did my best to ignore them, turning instead towards the stage which was filled with dancing girls cavorting in so lewd a manner I couldn't take my eyes off them (while also being struck by a paralysing embarrassment. I was, you'll remember, something of an innocent back then). The troupe high-kicked to the piped dance numbers, revealing their naked under carriages to the eager whooping of the front row. My attention was caught in particular by a brunette left of centre, she was quite simply the most beautiful woman I'd ever set eyes on. Her hair in tight tresses, her eyes wild, she danced with such enthusiasm I was utterly swept away by her. The innocent boy inside me did his best to focus on her face, as if he were somehow insulting her to do likewise. He didn't always manage. I’d seen a hypnotist routine on stage once, a crusty old German with a pointy beard striking people brainless with the power of his 'magical mesmerism', leading them around as mindless puppets. He could have saved himself the effort; even at that young age I knew the surest way of making a man forget himself was to put a pair of jiggling titties in front of him. It reduces even the most intelligent specimen to the likes of a panting dog.
"Caught your eye has she?" the old man asked.
"Who?" I blustered, doing my best to feign innocence.
He took another mouthful of his drink. "You watch yourself boy, a woman like that is sure to eat you alive."
I shrugged in pretend indifference and went back to watching and dreaming my sordid little thoughts.
"It's a woman we're looking for," he said, "but you won't find her up there. If you can tear your eyes away she's likely to be on one of the gaming tables."
I pretended I was only too happy to leave, sparing one last glance towards the stage where I swore the girl tipped me a wink.
2.
W HILE THE BAR had been a raucous and carefree place, the casino took things more seriously.
Not that it was quiet, the room was huge, containing somewhere in the region of thirty or forty gaming tables. The call of bets, the spin of roulette wheels and the riffling of cards made a wall of sound that rivalled the calliope and cheering next door. The atmosphere was wholly different though, for every occasional cheer of celebration, most in the room wore masks of intense concentration, fear and anger. This was a place where fortunes were lost more than won.
I moved past a large woman, bulging in a dress of red satin that made her look like some thing a butcher had just removed from a carcass.
"My luck's going to turn," she said, "just you see, any minute now my luck's going to turn."
She closed her eyes and muttered prayers to whichever god might offer her best odds and the wheel was spun. I glanced past her, wanting to see if her prayer was answered. The wheel looked like a living thing, built from cured meat and bone, the ball that bounced between its divisions like a bullet reverberating around a rib cage. It fell into black twenty-two, and she crumpled in despair.
"God damn the thing," she sighed, "maybe next time... yes, maybe next time..." she began to shake, like she was having some kind of fit and then, slowly toppled to one side. The crowd parted, and she fell crashing to the floor, still quivering as she lay there.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked but the old man grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"Don't interfere with the house business. Or we'll
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