Dad's Memories

- 27 August 98 - 27 August 98

"Bidets to Bullfights"

c - Arthur J. Langdon -1970

013g -- Monaco - "Departure from the tour & Old Lady Luck, was by our side" -- 013g

Old lady luck has many friends who are addicted to

the hidden card in blackjack and the sound of clicking dice.

The spinning of the roulette wheel and those who can and do

play slot machines with dwindling coins - till lemons do suffice.

The last stop we made on the tour was at the gambling casino in Monte Carlo. When we got off the bus, I told the tour guide that we might not complete the trip. This because, at the hotel I noticed the smile that comes from a good practice session as my girl dropped francs into the bed vibrator. We didn't make the bus.

Mother started through the lines of slot machines - looking for one that was stupid, and I saw cards that were different than ours. The ace is one. The King is a Rey. The Queen and Jack are something else again. Besides these confusions, the numbered cards seemed to be imprinted with an almost invisible ink. After watching the play for about an hour, I still didn't feel confident enough to sit in - and decided I had better check on the better half.

It wasn't hard to find her because only one machine was active and the other players formed a cheering crowd behind her as she filled paper cups with francs from the "stupid machine".

She greeted me with a sigh of relief, handed me a cup of francs and told me to cash them - as the tray of the machine was full again, and she had no more cups. It developed that a cup of francs - holds two hundred and fifty francs - which I brought back to the lucky lady in paper money, grabbed a handful of francs from her tray and started to play the adjoining machine. We agreed that when my francs were gone - we would have dinner and rest a while before trying again, but a strange thing happened. On the third coin, I hit a jackpot of two hundred forty-eight francs. The crowd around ooohed and ahhhed as we wended our way to the change office to change the loot to paper money. We each had the uncomfortable feeling that part of the Monacan secret police were watching every move we made.

The pay off men in Monte Carlo are different than those at Las Vegas. At Las Vegas - they smile at winners. When we returned to the casino, both the machines we had played were locked up for the night. Presumably, until the repair crew could figure out how these two Americans did it.