Freaks

CINDY: You see them in all types of casinos; the freaks. Characters who seem to be playing an outrageous character as if that put-on character has some kind of deep meaning to them and should in some way, shape or form have some kind of meaning to the rest of us..

ABBY: We’ve talked about this before.

CINDY: But we haven’t written about it.

ABBY: No.

CINDY: And these people have gone through so much trouble to make us and others notice them.

ABBY: For good or ill.

CINDY: Mostly ill.

ABBY: I agree that they are a part of casino life.

CINDY: A noticeable part too.

ABBY: To.

CINDY: I prefer the ones that appear at the expensive casinos to show the rest of us that they don’t really care about the rest of us. They are very interested in not showing everyone that they are in fact very interested.

ABBY: They do care that they are seen. You can’t miss that because they seem to get around the casino, here and there. They look a if they aren’t looking at you but they are looking at you.

CINDY: Or they pretend to be looking past you. Make that through you as if you do not exist to them.

ABBY: More men than women?

CINDY: Maybe about equal.

ABBY: Okay, let’s do a quick rundown of the ones you remember. Me first.

CINDY: Okay, go to it.

ABBY: Remember that couple who had so much metal on them that I can’t see how they got through the security at the airport. Do you think they had to un-metal themselves when they took planes?

CINDY: Oh, no, that would have taken all day. They had spikes through their noses. Big spikes. They looked gold. I don’t know if they actually were gold. She kept touching hers; maybe to point them out to the rest of us.

ABBY: Through the lips; the cheeks; the eye lids. Those were awful too. They could puncture their eyes.

CINDY: But then how could they see that the rest of us were looking at them?

ABBY: They even had some going through the flesh of their arms. She had flabby arms too.

CINDY: Maybe they didn’t hurt because the flab protected her from pain.

ABBY: He was skinny though. He kind of looked emaciated.

CINDY: I don’t remember if they played anything other than slots. They would come to the table games to hang out and let themselves be noticed though. That was very important to them. They were hard not to notice.

ABBY: Then you had multiple tattooed folks, men, and women. They seemed to try to make themselves look attractive. Maybe to other tattooed folks they did look attractive. But except for the tattoos they did look attractive. I guess. But whatever, they were noticeable.

CINDY: They did eat at some of the good restaurants; at least from what I could remember.

ABBY: There were others, right?

CINDY: Oh, yes, indeed there were others. The guy who fancied himself a cowboy? Okay, let us forget him.

ABBY: Done.

CINDY: The casinos do bring plenty of what I would call “freaks” out.

ABBY: Are we allowed to call them freaks?

CINDY: Who knows. I’ll ask my grandniece. I think she keeps track of these things.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.