My streak had ended and it was time to cash in my chips. It had been a good night but I knew that my luck had run out. While waiting in line to make my exchange, I heard a disturbance in front of me. Two security guards were dragging a guy behind a curtain and he did not like it.
As the line moved forward and I came closer to the cashier, I could see those who had just visited the cage were quickly escorted behind a curtain on their way out of the casino. I only caught a glimpse of the gambler in front of me prior to going behind the curtain but my fears were soon realized.
I was told that my chips were no longer of value and that I should take them with me as a gift from the casino. I was quickly led behind the curtain but the guard attending me soon went back for the next gambler. In that moment, I took my knife and cut a rent in the curtain to squeeze through and watch what was happening.
The rest of the gamblers now began to take notice and were heading to the cage in great numbers. Once they realized what was happening, they became disruptive. I looked behind them and saw a large contingent of men with guns that were there to usher them into the desert.
I went back through the curtain and walked outside into the desert heat. I had not known until then that I had unknowingly played their game all through the night.
Once outside on the sidewalk, the smell of burning plastic permeated the atmosphere. But it was not only this but the other ways in which the gamblers were dealing with their chips that I found most interesting.
A man threw his chips on the walkway with disgust. A woman was holding her chips as if she were caressing a child. Another man was laughing while throwing his chips in the air only to have them fall back down upon him. Most looked like they were somehow lost and continued holding their chips while not quite knowing what to do with them. I gave my chips to a woman who was building something out of them on the crosswalk. I didn’t know what she was trying to make.
I then saw an armored car pull up in front of the casino. They were carrying large and heavy bags into the building. One bag dropped and fell close enough for me to tell that it was gold that they were hauling. This was happening at the same time that the gamblers were still being led out of the casino holding their plastic chips.
After the cars had left and the people had come and gone from the casino, the next group drove up in black limousines and set up shop in front of the door. They were putting chips under the skin of the gamblers and allowing them back into the building. Later, I found out that they were given credit that no longer required paper or plastic to balance its accounts.
As for the rest of us, we had only the desert to turn to.
