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#112 – Fool’s Paradise, Part I – Return to the Bellagio
[I will shortly give you the last installment of Prisoner of the Bellagio but I want to keep you updated on new business.]
I am back at the Bellagio, shopping for cars with Ted Forrest, playing in Jennifer Harman’s charity poker tournament, and following the first day of the WPT Championship. Also, please note, that I am one of the pros playing in the Iron Man Heads-Up on Saturday afternoon. I’m leading off against Iron Man winner rockyruu. Perry Friedman will play him after me, and Andy Bloch will finish up. I will watch the first hour of the WPT Championship, run upstairs, and do battle. I hope you’ll watch to see how it turns out, and I’ll write about the experience if you miss it.
I’m due at Caesars in less than an hour so I have to be brief for now. Yesterday was a long day. I drove to Las Vegas, helped Ted Forrest pick out a car, and struggled to finish an overdue article about Andy Beal for BLUFF.
The full story about Ted’s car will have to wait, but I don’t want to leave you with nothing:
*I got to see the Green Lincoln, the car I wrote about in the Introduction of Suicide King. It has 147,000 miles and that many pieces of garbage in the back seat. Part of the front of the car had been bashed in and a headlight was hanging out of its socket. A “Lincoln” logo was mangled so I boosted the “L” for my collection of pilfered poker memorabilia.
*I got to see the Larry Limousine in its tent. I don’t think anyone had been inside that tent for a long, long time. The tires had gone flat and the extra-long stretch limo was covered in dust. There were three giant painted nude women adorning the trunk lid and each side’s rear flank. The tulips were in evidence but they didn’t seem to be covering up anything from what I could see.
*Purchasing a car, Ted is a force to be reckoned with. Here is one exchange while we were on the test drive:
TED: The speedometer goes up to 160. How fast will it go?
DEALER: It cuts out when you get to about 120.
TED: Really? We’ll have to check that out. (He pounds on the accelerator.) Nope, it’s just fine at 125. (We are passing cars on the expressway like they are parked.)
ROXANA: Ted’s changing lanes and signaling AFTER.
MIKE: Professor Backwards.
TED: I just wanted to make sure it didn’t cut out at 120. That wouldn’t be good. Say, can this car outrun a police cruiser? Because those things move.
I’m looking out my window, looking west up Flamingo, seeing the Palms, Rio, and the Gold Coast, the city beyond and, in the distance, plains and mountains. For some reason, crystal clear, I remember the first time I came to Las Vegas.
1967. I just turned nine and we visited my grandma in California and went to Disneyland. Las Vegas was a 2-day stop on the way back. We stayed at the Dunes and, as children in THAT Las Vegas, were confined to our room. Still, it was exotic and opulent. Two memories stand out. First, the static electricity in the hotel was tremendous. It was almost painful to touch anything that created an electrical shock. Naturally, my little brother Bart and I annoyed each other with this trick as much as possible. Second, the sight out that window stays in my mind to this day.
It was west, just like my view out of the Bellagio. In fact, it was almost on the same spot, forty years ago. There were no other casino behemoths and no city that I remember. Just a long, empty plain and mountains in the distance so far off that they could have been a mirage.
I feel very old remembering that, and a little sad. That little boy was entranced by Las Vegas, but he could have no idea of the man he would become, or the role the town would have in his future.
I also remember flying back to Detroit, being excited about being in an airplane and passing the time filling a giant coloring book. All so simple back then. No matter what, the adult ends up corrupting the innocence of the youth he was, and I feel corrupt right now.
I’m trying to reach Clonie Gowen to review a portion of this Andy Beal article I’m rushing to finish because she’s in it. I leave her a message. “I’m trying to lure to you my room, Clonie, but not for the reasons I would usually have in mind ….”
