Mixed Fortunes Ch.7

The month of May 1988 was simply magnificent. There are no other words I could use to describe it. Jessie and I got on like a house on fire and during the week she would come over every night after sorting out her Dad’s dinner. She only slept over on the weekends. On week nights I would walk her home at about ten, then we’d stand outside the building entrance holding hands, kissing and not wanting to part. I felt more enthusiasm for each day than ever before. We went for long walks on the beach, just talking and dreaming of the future. The thought of going drinking in the pubs didn’t even enter our minds. We just wanted to be together. Maybe we had finally grown up?

On a lazy Sunday morning in the middle of June I asked Jessie what she wanted to do for the day. We were eating Corn Flakes for breakfast, sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table.

“I’ll ask my Dad if I can borrow his car, maybe we can take a drive somewhere nice, get out of the city for the day?”

“You have a driver’s license?”

“Uh huh. Got it when I left school, but I seldom drive anywhere, it’s always a hassle trying to find a parking. Daddy’s car is sooo looong!”

I laughed. “What kind of car is it?”

“I dunno. A long one.” she shot me a playful look like I might be dense, or worse.

“No sweetie, what make of car?” I pretended to flick a corn flake towards her.

“I want to say a Toyota, but it might be an Opel. I’m not into cars. It’s not a Mercedes, I know that much.”

“And he lets you take it out?”

“Sure. Dad’s a peach when he’s sober.”

“What does he do?” I asked.

“As a job?”

“Ya.”

“Printer. Or something like that. He works for the magazines.”

“I see. My Dad was a mechanic, now he manages a workshop.” I said. “He’s offered to buy me a car before, but living here in the city you don’t really need one. It would just go to waste because I can’t get parking at work anyway and the rust would eat it down here too.”

“Yep. Waste of money.” she agreed, loading her spoon with another heap of corn flakes, taking care not to drip milk from the bottom of the spoon. She was very conscious of not making a mess in my flat.

“I’m trying to think where we could go if you do want to borrow his car.” I said, getting up to go and rinse off my empty cereal bowl.

She got up too and followed me into the kitchen, depositing her bowl on top of mine under the stream of water then linking her arms around my neck.

“I haven’t been on a day trip for ages. What about we drive down to the casino on the south coast, spend the day there? Maybe we hit the jackpot? What do you say?”

“Hmm… I’m not much of a gambler, but it does sound like a fun day out. I think they also have some shows we could probably take in. How long is the drive?”

“Gee, I actually don’t know, Dan. Maybe a couple of hours each way?”

“I’m keen. Best we ask your papa if he doesn’t mind you taking your new boyfriend out in his looong car.”

“I’m going to pop over home now and see if it’s OK. You wanna come with or wait here?”

“I’ll wait here.” I said. I hadn’t officially met her Dad as an adult and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him yet.

Fifteen minutes later and she was back, holding up a set of car keys and grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat from Alice In Wonderland.

“Let’s go play, baby!” she said.

Tony Lombard’s car was a relatively old Toyota Corolla from the 1970’s. Baby blue in colour but in fairly good condition. Somehow it had escaped the torturous beachfront rust cancer that afflicted most cars in these parts. Jessie had parked it in the vertical street bays right outside the entrance to my building and we got in, feeling like a couple of young adventurers. We stopped to put in petrol and hit the southern highway.

After we’d been driving for about an hour we pulled up next to a lookout point to stretch our legs, have a smoke and take in the sea view along the coastal highway.

“Isn’t this awesome?” Jessie said.

“I think I need to get my own car.” I replied.

“Why? Don’t you like my driving?”

I laughed. She loved to tease me and I enjoyed this playful side of her nature.

“No silly, I just didn’t realise the kind of freedom this brings… to be able to get in your car and head out on the highway anywhere you want. We get so caught up in the daily grind that we forget about the simple things in life. Like escaping the rat race.”

“I know. I was getting so sick of constantly going to bars and clubs all the time before I met you. I think I’m kind of done with that now.”

“I hear what you’re saying.” I said.

We sat against the bonnet of the car passing the cigarette between us, watching the waves in this small coastal town paint the shore with foamy salt water.

“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I asked, brushing a stray hair from her neck line as I surveyed her face.

“Heavy duty question! We’ll be thirty. That just sounds so old.” she said turning to face me. “I dunno. You?”

“You must have some dreams.” I said, playing the ball back into her court.

“I do, but you know… life’s been so flippin’ weird this past year or so with my Mom gone, I just don’t know if planning for the future is something I can do anymore.”

“Were you close to your Mom?”

“Not really, but I mean, she’s my Mom and she never let on that she was hurting so much, you know. I just wish that she’d have opened up a bit more to me about what was going on. I’m sure that she could have figured out a better way to leave my Dad than the way she did. Or at least give him a proper chance to change.” she said. “And… we still don’t know where she is. Not a clue and sorry to say, but that is just bullshit. Who just ups and leaves their family?”

I wasn’t expecting the conversation to run this close to personal family matters, but I liked that she would open up to me this way.   

“That’s a tough pill to swallow, Jess. I’m really sorry your family broke up like that. Sucks for sure.”

“Yeah. But what about you? What are your dreams?”

“I’ve always wanted to travel. And write.”

“Really? Writing? Oh yes, I remember you were always getting brownie points in Miss Denver’s class in school. She loved your essays.”

“She did. You know she kept in touch after I went to high school? She’d always call my house and chat with me or my Mom to see how I was doing and so on. Such a sad day when she passed on. I really miss her. I wish I’d had an English teacher like her in high school instead of the arseholes I did have.”

“She was a pretty cool teacher.”

Jessie leaned into my side, head on my shoulder. “I didn’t know you wanted to travel?”

“Always. Doesn’t look like that will ever happen living in this country though. Nobody will let us in anywhere, so we may as well make the most of what we have right here.”

“True.” she said. “Nobody likes us.”

“Have you ever heard that song ‘I’ve Never Met A Nice South African’?”

“No? There’s a song like that? Seriously?” She looked at me as if I was having her on.

“Ya, serious. It was from a pommie TV show called Spitting Image. I can’t remember the lyrics but the gist of it was that this guy travelled all over the world and met all sorts of people but he never met a nice South African.”

“Geez. That’s a bit harsh. What a prick.”

“Pommies love to dish it out, but they don’t like it dished back their way. One day they will be sorry. They fucked up the whole world and then have the temerity to sit on their muddy island throwing insults to those of us they left behind to run their colonies. I really don’t like the English.”

We sat for a little while longer before we headed further south to the casino in the homeland of Transkei.

When we got there it was a madhouse. The number of people entering to gamble away their money was a total surprise to me. We found a parking spot in a massive car park and walked towards the main entrance of the hotel. Inside there were slot machines right next to the check in desk. We walked around the hotel for a bit, checking it out and then went into the main gaming hall. It was all very plush.

I drew some cash from a nearby ATM and changed it for a bag full of coins. We tried our luck at some stand alone machines and won nothing. There was a big row of one armed bandit machines on a platform against a wall at the back of the gaming floor that all seemed to be linked to each other. We walked over to it and found one of the machines to play. Jessie was giggling like a schoolgirl every time she pulled the lever and heard the silly sounds it made. All the machines inside the casino were making quite a racket.

“You have to put the full stake in, otherwise it won’t pay out the jackpot.” I said to her over the roar.

“What?” she asked, cupping a hand behind her ear to try and hear me.

“Don’t put only one coin in at a time, put in five otherwise you won’t win as much if the machine pays out. Here, let me do it, you can pull the handle.”

“Oh OK.” she said.

I dropped in five coins and she pulled the handle. There was a whirring and buzzing sound.  The machine’s dials started spinning through a variety of fruit icons and then the first dial stopped on a 7. So did the second and third. And the fourth before the final line showed yet another 7. There was an blast of noise from the machine. Clanging bells and flashing lights and a siren. Then a fountain of coins started cascading out into the tray.

“Dan! Dan!! Oh my God!! Dan! We’ve won!” she screamed, jumping up and down, her Converse shoe just missing my foot.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The digital readout on the machine was flashing jackpot winner and coins were falling out of the machine like a waterfall, making a helluva noise as they piled up in the receptacle near our knees.

The siren kept on wailing. The coin waterfall kept on flowing onto the carpet for what felt like forever. People on the machines next to us were gathering around and slapping us on the back, shouting congratulations over all the noise.

For a moment I looked into Jessie’s hazel eyes and I saw the future, as clear as day. She wore the expression of somebody who was in a state of shock, but at the same time was completely aware that something beyond monumental had just happened. We stood there staring at each other in dismay. For me the noise in my ears began to blend into one continuous hum. Shock was setting in.

I don’t know how long we must have been standing there like idiots but eventually three smiling men dressed in black blazers with colourful casino insignias on the breast pocket walked over to us. They were the gaming floor managers according to their name badges.

“Congratulations!” said the first of them. “It looks like you have won the sweepstakes jackpot on this bank of machines! My name is Pieter Van Rooyen and these are my colleagues Martin and Ryno.” he said, a big smile on his face. “You’re the first winners on this machine bank ever. It’s a bloody big jackpot!”

“Really? How big?” I asked.

He looked up at a digital display above the bank of machines we were at and pointed to the number that was flashing rapidly above us. I suddenly felt weak at the knees and grabbed hold of Jessie’s shoulder.

“My God.” I said. “Look up there. That’s what we’ve actually won!” Her eyes widened as she  looked up, her mouth opening into a circle. I felt her start to fall down next to me. I grabbed her by the armpits before she hit the deck. Somebody brought over a stool for her to sit on. The readout above the machines was flashing a seven digit number that started with a three. The jackpot was just shy of four million Rand. We were staring at it like a UFO had just landed in front of us.

Martin passed us cool drinks from a tray brought by a waiter as the reality of what had just happened kicked in. Another person in a croupier’s uniform joined us and said that they would help us collect all the cash that the machine had emptied out as that was ours to keep as well as the big number on the flashing readout. The croupier gathered it all into a sack-like bank bag. Pieter asked us to follow them to an office away from the maddeningly loud casino floor so that they could begin processing the jackpot payout.

His office was plush with a massive desk and a little lounge area off to one side. On the desk was a bank of small TV screens and just behind it was an angled window looking down onto the gaming area, just like in the movies. He asked us if we needed anything else to calm our nerves.

“Can I smoke?” I asked.

“Yes, sure! Not a problem. There’s an ashtray on the coffee table.” he pointed to an enormous white ceramic piece that I might have mistaken for a serving bowl. I fished out my Camels and offered everyone in the office one. Pieter declined but his colleagues Martin and Ryno both happily accepted, as did Jessie. She was still trembling. So was I.

I don’t know what I must have looked like but my hands were shaking so much I could barely open my Zippo lighter. The adrenaline was still peaking.

We sat down on the leather sofas and tried to let the reality sink in. Pieter and the others also sat down. Pieter began speaking.

“Ok you guys, so this is a very big win as you saw. Are you married?”

We shook our heads.

“No problem, so who put the money in the machine? Was it you, Jessie?”

“Yes… no, Danny did but I pulled the lever. We were playing it together.” she said.

“So you are both going to share the jackpot?” asked Pieter.

“Oh yes, for sure.” I replied without hesitating.

“No problem. So obviously for safety’s sake we aren’t going to give you cash to take home, but we will give you each a personal cheque that you can deposit in your bank. It’s a 50:50 split, right? Martin will need to take down all your personal details and also there is a form or two that you need to sign before we can release the full jackpot to you.” he said, getting down to business. “We also have a PR lady and a photographer who will take your picture with a big cheque that we use to put on our newsletters and in this case probably in the national newspapers too. You don’t mind if we do that, right?”

We both nodded like mute school kids. Speaking wasn’t coming easily to me at that point. I could barely remember my name. I was dragging on the Camel so hard it was almost finished after half a dozen pulls.

“Are you staying in the hotel as guests?” Pieter asked.

We shook our heads.

“Well then, on behalf of the hotel management we would like to invite you to stay the night in our presidential suite, compliments of the hotel group. It’s standard practice for all big winners for them to calm down a bit before going home. We can’t have you driving off in such a state.” he laughed.

“Now you can get married!” chirped Ryno.

We all laughed.

Pieter asked us if we’d like to phone anybody. We could use the phone in his office, or if we wanted privacy we could use the phone in the presidential suite once they checked us in. It was all complimentary from here. I said we’d phone home from the suite.

The check in process took a few minutes from reception. They assigned us both keys and told us that we had our own private butler, Jerome, who would take care of all our needs for the next day or however long we wanted to stay for. Jerome was a tall, slim coloured gentleman who had a kind face, riddled in freckles.

Jessie walked into the suite first. The colour had returned to her face, her cheeks were glowing a bright fuchsia colour.

“Are you OK?” I asked. “You look very flushed.”

“I feel like I am in a dream but so far this seems to be real.” she said, walking towards an immense window overlooking the ocean.

The suite was indeed presidential. Jerome showed us around and pointed out all the unique features. In the middle was a lounge and off to one side through a partition in the room was a massive king size bed with a headboard the size of a small delivery vehicle. On the other side was an enormous white marble bathroom and in the middle was the entry to a huge patio balcony encircled with glass walls. We went outside, breathing in the fresh ocean air, feeling like the king and queen of the casino.

“We don’t even have a change of clothes with us.” Jessie said. “Or toothbrushes.”

“I think we can go shopping for clothes here in the hotel.” I said.

“Oh Lord, I have to phone my Dad now.” she said. “Who are you gonna call?”

“Probably my Mom. She’s going to freak out. I didn’t even tell her about us being a couple yet.”

“I think she knows, Danny. I met her at the hospital, remember? She’s awesome, by the way.”

Jessie’s voice changed completely when she called her Dad. It was almost childlike in tone. I watched her play with the coiled cord on the receiver while delivering the biggest news she’d ever had to deliver.

When she was done I called my Mom and gave her the news. She said that it was bad form to prank ones parents. It took a bit of convincing but eventually I got her to believe me. Her son was very rich now. At the age of twenty-five going on sixty-six considering how fast my heart had been beating since that siren began sounding.

With the important calls behind us we both lay on the king size bed and fell asleep. The event we’d just experienced had taken a toll. Our brains had to shut down for a little while.

When I woke up it was late in the afternoon. I felt a bit disoriented. Jessie was sitting in one of the loungers out on the patio, a cigarette in her hand and a glass of something in the other.

“Hey love, what you got there?” I asked.

“Rock shandy. Jerome made it for me. You want one?”

I asked her what was in it and she elaborated. Jerome brought me one too. Then we went shopping for clothes in the hotel boutique shops.

Later we had dinner in a very fancy hotel restaurant. It was a good meal, served in several courses. People were fawning over us wherever we went, asking how we felt about becoming the biggest winners ever in the short history of the casino. It was starting to get a bit much so we retreated back to the presidential suite, got undressed and fell asleep again in the giant bed.

Sometime in the middle of the night I felt Jessie shake my shoulder.

“Danny?” she said.

“Yes love?” I mumbled, groggy.

“What are we going to do with all that money?”

It was about the twentieth time she’d asked me the question but I still wasn’t getting tired of making up fantasy answers.

“Let’s get a whole bunch of cash, lie it out on this bed and make love on it.” I said, sleepily.

“No, seriously. I know we’ve been joking around but I can’t sleep. I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Come here.” I said and pulled her closer. She lay back down alongside me.

“I think what we need to do is just climb down off the cloud tomorrow and think about seeing a counsellor or something. My bank has also got a lot of financial advisers we could talk to. It is a lot of money, we will need to be careful otherwise it can really fuck up our lives.”

“I know.” she said. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t think I even want to tell anybody else, to be honest.”

“All the relatives you never knew you had will come knocking now.”

“Fortunately I am from a small family. You too, right?” she asked.

“Yes, no cousins, aunts or uncles.” I said.

“But seriously, Danny, this means you can travel anywhere now. You could move to America if you wanted, maybe even Europe?”

“I suppose I could.” I said. “But I don’t know if I want to go there. My folks went a few years ago and they didn’t like it at all.”

“Really?”

“Ya, Mom said it felt like she was being watched by serial killers wherever they went.”

Jessie laughed.

“I think I might want to start my own business. Or maybe go to university and get a degree in something pointless.” she said.

I stroked her side and nodded as she cuddled closer to me, our bodies toasty under the duvet.

“That’s probably a very sensible idea. What would you study? Where would you study? You could even study overseas if you wanted.”

We didn’t sleep again that night.

The next day we had a small committee of casino officials arrive at our door just after breakfast. We had our photo taken with the giant cheque, Pieter grinning like a madman as he gripped both our hands holding it up against our bodies. We were both wearing new clothes we’d purchased from the various shops in the hotel. I’d never spent as much on a pair of jeans and t-shirt before, but seeing as I was rich I didn’t give it a second thought.

I had also popped into the jewellery store and got presents for my folks. A pair of diamond earrings for Mom and a Cartier watch for Dad. I also bought a special something for Jessie but I decided to give it to her only when we got back home. It would be a surprise.

She looked nothing like the girl I had pulled out of a bar fight just a few weeks ago. She’d gone to the salon in the hotel early that morning and had her hair and nails done. Now she resembled a movie star.

I had thought about leaving Tony’s old Corolla at the hotel and getting a limousine to take us back home, but Jessie said no, we needed to take back her Dad’s car, even though she was going to buy him a new one just as soon as she got that cheque cleared into her bank account. The coins that had spilled out of the one armed bandit they gave back to us in notes. It was a lot of money all on its own so I bought a little leather bag from the gift shop to stow it in.

Jessie asked me to drive us home, so I got in, cranked the ignition and we set off back to the big city. I still don’t remember a single detail of that drive.