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“I hate you, Daddy!” Christie glared at her father, tears streaking mascara down her face.

Danny shook his head. He looked at the girl — all black clothing, dyed black hair, black nail polish, black lipstick, and now those tragic black rivers coursing down her too pale face. He could still see traces of his pretty little daughter underneath all that, but she seemed further away every day. She wants to be a vampire? Could that be right?

“Later, old man.” Doug brushed past, ignoring the drama playing out between his father and sister. He shook back a shaggy mane on his way out the front door. “Full moon tonight!” Danny and Christie stared after him through the picture window at the front of their oh-so-typical suburban home. Doug revved his motorcycle and howled down the street.

Christie broke the brief silence. “He’s such a dog.”

“A wolf,” Danny corrected and regretted it immediately. No teenager in the world suffers a pedantic father gladly and his daughter was certainly no exception. She spun on her heel and stomped up the stairs to her room. The slamming door declared her victory in this battle. Everybody take five and the war will continue momentarily. What were they fighting about again? Danny wondered.

He retreated to the kitchen where his wife sat, zombie-like, staring at a small TV. A tall drink was sweating into a ridiculous puddle on the table in front of her. He put the kettle on to boil and rooted through the cupboard for a tea bag. A nice soothing chamomile would do nicely he decided.

He turned his back on the kettle — so it would boil, you know — and stood for a moment watching his wife watch the flickering blue screen. The house felt like a shell, a ghost, devoid of the life they had tried to build there. Where had he gone wrong?

The kettle began to whistle and Danny drowned a teabag in a cup of boiling water. He lifted the cup letting the steam wash over his face. The television droned on about the latest celebrity scandal. A car horn blasted out on the street and Christie raced down the stairs and out the front door. Danny sipped his tea as the car squealed away. I hope she washed her face.

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To him, she was a puzzle he could never solve.

To her, he was a problem she could never fix.

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I ain’t never been lucky.

I don’t know what possessed me to take a trip to Las Vegas, but sure enough here I am. I flew in last night with a hotel reservation, a ticket to see Johnny Mathis in concert, and ten dollars I was willin’ to waste in the casino.

I spent most of this mornin’ walking along what they call The Strip. The fancy hotels with their fountains and volcanoes and shows and whatnot are truly a wonder. And then for lunch I found one of them buffets for cheap that have real prime rib and crab’s legs and a salad with four beans, not just three. I ate till I was like to bust.

I had a few hours yet till Johnny Mathis so I figured it was time to see a casino. I had watched on the TV in my hotel room about the rules for some of the games and I had a mind to give one or two of ‘em a try. Blackjack seemed like the easiest. Back home we call it 21.

I found a $2 table so that meant I could play at least five hands even if I lost every one of ‘em. I busted the first hand and then the dealer got blackjack the next hand. But then I got a blackjack and then the dealer busted and I was right back in it. I was startin’ to see why people take a shine to gamblin’.

I kept on like that for a good half hour or so, never bein’ more than a few dollars up or down from where I started. Finally I put the whole ten bucks on one last hand. Son of a gun if I didn’t get another blackjack. I took my winnin’s and started back toward my room.

I was feelin’ kinda high from winnin’ and couldn’t resist stoppin’ up at the roulette table. Just for curiosity, ya know. Since I was ahead from the blackjack I put a few bucks down on red and won three times in a row. I got nervous and moved it over to black and won twice more. Then I moved my chips to number 17, my Momma’s birthday, and darn if that didn’t get me a whole big stack.

In spite of winnin’ like that I thought the roulette was sorta borin’ so I picked up and moved again. I watched the dice game — I don’t care for that name they call it — for a bit. It seemed real excitin’. I figured to risk another ten bucks. Even if I lost it all I’d be way ahead for the day. A pretty girl started bringin’ us drinks — just a coke for me — and ‘afore I knew what there was another pretty girl standin’ next to me cheerin’ and tuggin’ at my sleeve. Next thing I know I got my arm around her and she’s lookin’ all dreamy-eyed at me. I can’t say I really understand the dice game all that much, but the stack of chips in front of me kept gettin’ bigger anyhow.

Some guy with a coat and tie came along and said they wanted to upgrade my room since I was playin’ so well. I’d heard of that, but for sure never thought it would happen to me. He even said he would have somebody take my things over from the old room for me. Can you believe that?

When it came my turn to throw the dice that little girl took hold of my hand and blew on ‘em. “For luck,” she said and I for sure felt somethin’ stirrin’ through me. I don’t know that it was luck, but it felt pretty darn good. We kept on like that until I looked at my watch and darn if I wasn’t gonna be late for the show. I excused myself to go find my room, but that girl tagged along like a lost pup.

I didn’t know if she would wait or if I could get another ticket or what, but it felt real nice to have her hangin’ on my arm so I decided not to say nothin’ ’bout it till after we was up in my room. It was bigger than my apartment back home with a sittin’ room and kitchen and separate bedroom that held a great big bed with a mirror over it. I don’t rightly know what that’s all about.

All of the sudden there was a strange man in behind me whackin’ me on the head with somethin’ heavy. I crumpled to the floor and he rifled through my pockets for my wallet and every cent to my name. I never did see that girl again. And now here I lie, starin’ up at the ceiling with my life blood pourin’ out of my head. I swear from somewhere in the distance I can hear Johnny Mathis music wafting up from a show I ain’t never gonna see.

I tell ya, I ain’t never been lucky.

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I look like an idiot, Mark thought, but not for the reason that she thinks I am…. There are some questions that he just didn’t know how to answer so he stood there, speechless.

Suzie’s parents have a house on the lake, and she asked Mark if he wanted to go there with her for the weekend. They’d only been seeing each other for a couple weeks so this seemed like kind of a big deal to him. They would have the place to themselves. Drive down Saturday morning and return Sunday night. The weather was clear and warm enough that they could take the boat out during the day. It could make for a perfect weekend. Or a perfect disaster.

Mark got to her place early on Saturday morning. Suzie made instant coffee for both of them — no cream, two Sweet-n-Lows, just the way she likes it — and he brought donuts. She nibbled at her jelly donut, she had told him raspberry was her favorite, and tossed most of it in the trash. Not on her diet. He was two bites into his Boston Cream when she transferred their coffees into Styrofoam cups and grabbed her overnight bag.

Unwilling to toss away his favorite pastry Mark shoved the rest of it in his mouth all at once. He was beginning to recognize the look she gave him as a portent of trouble. It wasn’t the first, and wouldn’t be the last, time he saw it. Trying desperately, and unsuccessfully, to grab the rest of the paraphernalia she had piled up by the door without spilling his coffee he followed her out to the car. She dropped her bag at the back of the car and settled into the passenger seat. He loaded everything into the trunk, locked up her house, took a swig of coffee, and punched the address into the GPS.

As soon as they pulled out of the driveway, Suzie popped one of her favorite CDs into the player. Coldplay. Mark never liked them much. She insisted that if he just listened to them more often he would eventually get it. Naturally, the same argument held no sway when he wanted her to listen to music that he liked. She turned it up loud — not quite to Spinal Tap level, but louder than he liked it.

She propped her feet up on the dashboard. At least we’re in her car, Mark thought, so it isn’t my dash getting all scratched up. She spread the morning paper across her knees. Mark once teased her about how quaint he thought it was that she still subscribes to an actual physical newspaper. He gets all his news online and makes a point of only discussing the articles that he knows the local rag has covered.

The morning sun beat through the windows on his side of the car. The heater, of course, was set to keep her comfortable on the shady side. He sipped the last of his coffee wishing he had thought to put a dash of cream in it before they left. About half-way there she folded up the paper and closed her eyes. Nap time. When she hadn’t moved for several minutes he risked adjusting the temperature.

She woke up when the GPS announced their arrival at the lake house. She frowned at the heater controls and moved them back where she had set them even though the day was already warming up nicely. She made a beeline for the bathroom. Empty handed. It took a couple trips for Mark to drag in all of their junk. Do we really need all this for 36 hours? Better to have it and not need it, he guessed.

Mark piled all their stuff on the kitchen table and nosed around a bit. There were two bedrooms; one had a queen-sized bed, the other twin beds. He wondered where Suzie planned on them bunking. He went out back and looked at the boat. It was a small bass boat, good for puttering around, maybe for fishing, but he didn’t know whether the lake held any fish. In any case, the lake was a beautiful calm and already filling with weekend sailors. No doubt it would be crowded before they got out there.

Suzie was standing by the kitchen table when Mark went back inside and he had a sudden suspicion he had done something wrong. Should I have put our things in one of the bed rooms? Should I have launched the boat before coming back inside? He could have kept guessing all day and never gotten this one.

“What?” he asked.

“We just spent over an hour in the car,” she said, “How come you didn’t talk to me at all the whole way here?”

Mark stood there, speechless. Feeling like an idiot.

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