Monday, January 4, 2016
Casino de Montreal hr559
I visited the casino in Montreal for the first time in seven years. It
had been remodeled into an even more gorgeous, glorious place than
before. I arrived there before noon and had an all-you-can-eat buffet
lunch at a fancy restaurant. I enjoyed the splendid buffet at an
incredibly low price. Compare to the amount of money I was about to
spend for gambling, everything seemed cheap. Every time I lose, I always
try to calm my anger by thinking the money I spend here somehow serves
to make the city better since it’s a public-managed casino. The city is
so beautiful that I regard what I lose in the casino as an entrance fee
to a theme park called Montreal. I used to live in Montreal but had to
leave as I became short of money for life abroad. When the time to go
back to Japan drew near, I seriously thought of gaining money to stay in
Montreal, by gambling. I determinedly sat at the slot machine of a high
progressive prize for a couple of days. On the last day, it happened.
As the slot I had played kept gobbling up my money, I moved over to
another slot machine and a middle-aged woman came to the one I just
left. She turned it for only five or six times and hit the jackpot
unbelievably quickly and easily. If I had continued for five more
quarters on that slot, I would have won. She snatched $100,000 away from
me right before my eyes. While she screamed for joy, the lights
flashed, the sound blared and the casino workers scurried toward her
with papers, I was running into the bathroom. I couldn’t help crying in
there. I was trembling with chagrin. I cursed my bad luck and my coming
life in Japan. A long time ago, my mother asked a fortuneteller about my
future. She told me that according to the fortuneteller, I would often
come close to big money, but it would slip away each time. “So, you will
never be rich,” my mother said to me. I remembered that and I thought I
saw proof that she was right. After I returned to my apartment, I
wailed out loud like a baby. My former self was that stupid. Now, I play
the slot machine just for fun. I sat at the minimum bet slot with a low
prize. If I was lucky and won a little, it meant that I could play
longer with that money. The band started playing at the stage on the
casino floor and I enjoyed soft drinks that I took from the free drink
bar listening to it. I won a little, which let me stay and play there
longer than I had planned. As fatigue from the long flight began to kick
in earnestly, I got back to my hotel room and fell into bed. It was an
excitingly fun day at the casino that cleaned me out yet again, as
usual…