RANSVESTIA

There weren't too many gamblers at this hour but enough were there that the boss lady was back at the last table near the men's rest room. He bought fifty dollars worth of $.50 chips to start with and he began to bet systematically. It wasn't long before he had a run of good luck and he had almost two hundred dollars worth of chips in front of him. Then he made the mistake so many make and exchanged the chips for $1 and $5 chips so that he could play on a larger scale. Within twenty minutes he was tossing his last chip at the lovely cashier. "Put it on two fives.` He had ten for a point, and immediately he rolled a seven. Angry at himself he took another fifty from his pocket. He lost it. The last ten bucks of his hundred and ten remainder was now invested in $.50 chips again. He hit and brought his pile up to $75.00. Again he tried to in- crease the size of his betting and again he lost steadily. Persistently he stayed at this poor system until he had sevened out on his final chip.

The lovely manager was honestly beginning to feel sorry for Martin because she knew he couldn't afford such losses every night unless he was stealing or obtaining the money through robbery or something. She could tell the slim handsome boy was not rich by the cheap clothing he wore, even if it was clean and neatly pressed.

He had to force back tears when he realized that he had gone broke this time, really broke. He didn't have over $.75 in his pocket. He went up to her side and asked if they granted credit. "No . . . The policy of the house is cash or major credit cards. Are you broke again?”

"Yes maam. I've got a good job and it pays well, but I won't have any money before Wednesday. They pay me then."

"I'm dreadfully sorry but the owner forbids credit."

The gambling bug hit him so hard he asked: "What about a loan on my car outside? It's a new Chevy convertible. Could you advance me some money on it? If I win I pay it tonight. If I lose you can keep the keys till I get paid."

"Look

why don't you quit? You're no gambler, you've just got the fever. I've watched you play unwisely for the past four nights I know. I hate to see you throw away your money like that."

"I can't quit now," he complained. "I'm hooked too much. Look, let me have a hundred dollars and I'll turn my keys over to you right now. If I lose I'll leave the car with you till I redeem it."

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