VICKI BROWN
Somewhere around 1990, the Southern Baptist Convention was held in Las Vegas.
That statement in itself is hilarious, but it gave the holy rollers a chance to see “Sin City” without feeling guilty.
Upon arrival, my husband said in no uncertain terms that I was NOT to gamble, so I felt somewhat deflated, but I was still excited about gawking at all the sin.
We had a strict budget and had to be careful about spending, but we were ready to have some fun.
There was no way to get anywhere in Vegas back then except by taxi or bus, and since every taxi was advertising “Nudes on Ice”, we decided to catch a bus and head downtown. It was night, and I admit, we were a little nervous about encountering any shady characters while on public transportation on the outskirts of Las Vegas. So our hackles immediately went on alert when HE got on the bus.
A huge young man climbed on the bus and sat near us. We stared. Everyone stared, looking fearfully at him. His skin was dusky, his head shaved, tattoos adorned him from head to toe, and piercings and chains covered his black clothes and body. He was scowling and looked incredibly mean.
The entire bus nervously waited to be attacked, but he didn’t move a muscle.
The bus stopped again to admit more passengers, one of which was an older lady. Looking around, she noted that all the seats were filled, so she grabbed a nearby pole, planning to stand until a seat became vacant. My husband was about to stand, but the young man immediately moved, stood up and headed toward the lady.
We held our breaths, wondering what would happen.
Still frowning and looking mean, he pointed to the empty seat and grabbed a pole nearby. Startled, the lady smiled, said “Thank you”, and sat. Several stops later, he got off.
What had just happened here? It seems as though an entire bus of people had misjudged this young man. He had shown respect and proper upbringing…better than the other men who hadn’t moved to let the lady sit. I was impressed and learned a life lesson that day.
Later that night, as the only two people left on the bus, we moved to the front and chatted with the driver. He told us of a place to eat that was phenomenal and cheap. He even left his route and took us there where we enjoyed “all you can eat” ribs and steak for $1.99. When we left the restaurant, there was the bus, still waiting for us, and the driver took us back to town. He had been off the clock for hours. What kindness! I was starting to like this city.
The next day we went to a water park where my husband lost $20. Today, that amount would be nothing, but back then, it was a lot of money for us. I was irritated, but we were leaving the next morning anyway.
As I packed for our flight home, my husband announced that he would go to the front desk and get ready to check out.
This is what I had been waiting for.
I quickly grabbed my purse and rushed downstairs to the casino. A complete novice, I had no clue what to do, but I had seen other people shove coins into the machine and pull the handle, so I figured I could do the same.
Making my way to the nickel slot machine, I put in a nickel and pulled the handle with fear and trepidation.
Nothing happened…just rolling pictures on the screen. I shoved in another nickel. Same thing.
Sighing, I shoved in my last coin, thinking it was a nickel, but actually, it was a quarter. All of a sudden, sirens went off, lights started flashing, and coins started flowing.
I had won! Wait…I was not supposed to gamble because my husband was worried that people we knew would see us and it would get back to our church members. I was horrified.
People started congratulating me and I was the object of notice everywhere. Trying to hide behind machines, I quickly made my way to the clerk and asked for nickel rollers. I had won a lot of nickels! She laughed at me, put the money in a coin machine and handed me cash.
Making my way back to our hotel room, I sat on the bed and waited. The guilt was all over my face, because when my husband came in, the first thing he said was “What did you do and who saw you?”
Shamefaced, I admitted that I had gone downstairs and gambled. “How much did you lose?” he asked frowning.
“I didn’t lose…I won…$16!” I said gleefully.
“Oh,” he said, looking thoughtful. “Well, that’s good…that makes up for the $20 I lost yesterday.” And that was it. I guess gambling wasn’t so bad when it made up for HIS mistake.
So we left “Sin City” with the thoughts that maybe it had some redeeming qualities, and I guess it wasn’t so different from most cities; there is good and bad in all…you just have to look and appreciate the good.
