Prior to posting my brother Barron’s post, I want to share his reason for the mix up of Mel’s. At age 69, soon to be 70, the memory starts to become hazy, lol. Luckily, he discovered the error while proofing his book.
Continuation of Melissa;
Things were moving too quickly with Melissa, as much as I enjoyed being with her, I was technically still married and though Cheryl was living her own life, I could not deny my feelings for her, and would probably be dumb enough to go back to her, if she asked. Those feelings were changing as I spent time with Mel but having her Suzy in the picture could complicate things. I worried how the two sets of grandparents would feel if their granddaughters new Dad was black. I also had reservations with bonding with a small girl in grief over losing her father. I had no experience with young kids and would be relying on Mel to make the transition less of a burden. Oh well, Suzy had asked her mom to let her stay two weeks longer with her paternal grandparents, which gave us nearly a month to plan her homecoming. I finished the pot of coffee and left to start my day. At the first available phone booth, I stopped and called Melissa to see how she was doing. She asked if I had eaten, hoping for the chance to spend time over breakfast. I declined the offer and we planned to meet for a late lunch, preferably close to work. I was looking to buy a car as soon as possible, and tonight’s goal was to make enough for a decent down payment.
It was 2 o’clock, Mel and I were sitting at a secluded table in one of the many small bistros located on a side street just off the strip. She was dressed in jeans and a light blue t-shirt and looked drop-dead gorgeous. She was writing in a small notebook and didn’t see me come in. I took the time to enjoy her without her being subconscious of my staring, before joining her. She leaned towards me and after a short peck, she proudly showed me her notes. I had only to glance at her neatly written notes to see she was fully in, and the last thing on the paper, was just brilliant.
We discussed the night’s plan as we ate and Melissa, showed her excitement. Her eyes lit up and her cheeks flushed pink as we plotted our attack. One of the major oncerns had been the presence of the shift supervisor, the lead slot mechanic and security guards who roamed the casino freely and not assigned to a specific area. All the casino and hotel staff were trained to be extra eyes, always looking for cheats or thieves as they did their regular work. The regular slot floormen and change girls were rotated daily and it would be easy to account for them. Melissa pointed out that the casino and hotel used the property’s intercom system and special codes to direct staff to certain areas when needed. The system was also used to page customers who were separated from their party, to let them know where to meet them. There were black phones on the walls that connected to the operator, who then announced the appropriate message. Mel suggested that because the callers were not required to give their name, we could direct security away from our target areas, if needed. Tonight, we were planning to do ten written jackpots @ $300 dollars, ten triple 7 jackpots on dollar machines @ 300 dollars and another 3000 dollars by taking the coins from machines in Melissa’s and another girl’s carousels and cashing them in from their banks. That would bring me forty-five hundred dollars and the rest of the team would make about three hundred each. It was about half of what they took home in their regular work checks. The skims took less than five minutes each and were spaced to occur throughout the shift. We would be done an hour before the end of the shift. I was sweating from the running I had to do in order to meet my outside collectors, while continuing to complete my normal shift work. Everything ran smoothly, there were no indications that the night was different from the normal routine. After work we met at a pizza and beer bar, and I treated everyone to pizza and two rounds of drinks, we decided to increase the take to fifteen thousand a night, and we would run the skims a minimum of three nights out of the week. I was going to start looking for a car tomorrow. Some of us stayed to shoot pool and finally left about one o’clock. Mel and I had given up the pretense of not, and were squeezed together at a corner table, making out like a couple of teenagers. Part of the group yelled for us to get a room as they passed by on their way to the exit. We laughed and waved good night before returning to our drinks.
“Well ma’am I guess I should get you home”, I said, “It’s getting late”,
“Well sir, since you are riding with me, I guess you are going to go where I’m going. And I’m not ready to call it a night yet. You were terrific tonight. I never thought being a thief would be such a turn on”, she added. She pulled out a Virginia Slim and I jumped to light it. She held onto my hand and looked into my eyes.
“You deserve to celebrate “, she said, “And I know just the place c ‘mon,”
“Where are we going? We’re hardly dressed to go clubbing ” We were both wearing our work uniforms.
“Just sit tight, we’ll be there in no time.” She turned and smiled at me, giving my hand a tight squeeze before turning onto the Strip. She was a good driver and quickly moved through the traffic. She turned off the Strip and then again onto Industrial Blvd.
“No way”, I said, “We’re going in there?”
“That’s right”, she said, pulling into the entrance to Crazy Horse Too, Las Vegas’ premier strip club.
“And when we leave here, you’re all mine!”
The Crazy Horse had over 20,000 Sq ft of floor space and it was filled with stages bathed in bright lights that swayed in rhythm to the driving beat of the DJ or live band. They boasted of having 1000 to 1500 dancers each night, and they were all gyrating their bodies, in different stages of undress. Melissa was enjoying my discomfort in trying not to stare at all the flesh around me. Finally, she stopped and grabbed me to plant a long, wet, kiss on my lips. She whispered in my ear while grinding her hips against me.
“You have my permission to enjoy yourself, and I will set the boundaries tonight.”
We paid for a private area that was blocked from the view of the general public. A huge stage showcased the girls’ main acts, and they left the stage to pursue lap dances and expensive drinks as they worked their way around the room. Melissa and I enjoyed single and multiple dancers in our little hideaway and were tempted to invite a few of them to come home with us. That’s when Mel reminded me about the boundaries and suggested it was time to leave. That night was special, and I moved in with her the following day, keeping my efficiency just in case. We could easily afford it and more.
To be continued,
Barron Broomfield
