“Watch and Pray”…even while fishing or playing BINGO.
Bingo Story
by John Rubens
August 3, 2017, Bullhead City, AZ, River Valley Senior Center of August 2, 2017 Bingo Wednesday night.
Liz, Don and I played 31 beforehand. Liz pointed out my lucky penny after sharing her coffee with me during the Bingo intermission. I didn’t pick it up at first.
“Are you Irish?” I asked Claudine who I sat opposite to again, as she had to me the Saturday before. She said her maiden name. It started with ‘Mc…’, but she whispered it amidst the bingo room murmur and it didn’t quite register. I didn’t know how I would spell it anyway.
You don’t get any more Irish than that,” she pronounced in intimacy.
As the games got underway, Liz who sat in the corner opposite the caller, won the first game. A member to my far right won another, and I, sitting to the immediate left of Judy, an assistant director at the Center, won the fourth game.
Judy, who had her purse between us on a chair, told those around her, “Seems like everyone’s winning around us but a dead zone right here.”
Having been told by my neighbor the day before, ‘They shouldn’t let you go there [to the Senior Center’], I smirked a chagrinish smile.
Lucky penny…lucky Irish…what is this? George the caller last Saturday didn’t believe winning was luck. Did he think winners were positive thinkers, alert or random drawing? He wouldn’t say, as if to say, “Play and see.” The casinos depend on 21 players making mistakes, induced or self-inflicted.
Liz passed behind behind me a second time and I noticed she noticed the ‘lucky’ penny was still on the floor. I asked her, “Do you want it?” and picked it up to show her.
“Was it heads?” she asked.
“What? Was the penny heads up?” I inquired.
“Yes,” she responded.
“No, it was tails.”
Just then Claudine sitting opposite me showed interest in the lucky penny. I
was a new shiny penny with a shield reverse. Claudine said she had never seen
such a penny.
“It’s a new one,” I said. “You haven’t seen it yet?”
“No,” she said curiously.
“They have a shield now. Do you want it?” I asked, making sure she would
appreciate it.
She nodded assent and said “Yes, I’ll take that, I’ve never seen it”, and I
handed the penny to her.
Liz had won the first Bingo game and after the intermission, we played
“Double Action” bingo where you have to keep track of a JUMBO card and two
number in each square on the “double action” card. It was a long game. When
Claudine finally yelled “Bingo!” and went up to get her winnings, I looked up at
the electronic bingo board and realized I had not marked the #46 in the double
action square which would have given me Bingo some time before Claudine’s. Under
the rules, once another Bingo number is called, your valid Bingo expires. One
must “Bingo” on the last number officially called by the caller.
Claudine came back smiling. “A hundred and twenty one dollars.”
“Look!” I showed her my double action card. “I had Bingo too, just like you
did last time, but didn’t call it.”
Her smile turned to business. “You want to split it?”
“No,” I said knowing the five people that split her pot on the previous
Saturday did not share their pot with her. We sat opposite each other on that
day too, only she was watching out for me more.
Claudine reminded me of my Irish grandmother Frances. Where we sat opposite
each other, I was able to admire her Irish blue eyes and painted eyebrows that
reminded me of our “Grandma Tici” as we used to call her. We distinguished my
maternal grandmother by her daughter and my aunt Patrice and my paternal
grandparents by their dog, Bowsie, Grandma and Grandpa Bowsie.
“How much did you say the pot was?” I asked meekly.
“A hundred and twenty one dollars!” she responded clearly and with gusto.
As we played the next couple of small pot games, she saw I was determined and businesslike. “Watch and pray,” I had read that very morning from the gospel of Mark. I didn’t watch. Every caller is different and Irma proceeded quickly with the games, not as slow as George but slower than the Riverside Casino across the Colorado River in Laughlin Nevada.
“A hundred and twenty one dollars!” she responded clearly and with gusto.
As we played the next couple of small pot games, she saw I was determined and businesslike. “Watch and pray,” I had read that very morning from the gospel of Mark. I didn’t watch. Every caller is different and Irma proceeded quickly with the games, not as slow as George but slower than the Riverside Casino across the Colorado River in Laughlin Nevada.
“Maybe you’ll win again!” Claudine said, just as Grandma Tici would. “Hit a
home run for Grandma” Grandma Tici repeated from the grandstand. “Hit a home run
for Grandma!” and to my amazement, I hit one over the centerfielder’s head for a
three run homer.
Claudine still was lit from her winnings and showed me the $121.00
confidential smile, not wanting to bring out the envy of the other members.
Some gal called me the “Big Winner” afterwards in the lobby as I was getting
ready to leave. I had won an $18.00 “bow-tie” Bingo game after raising my arms
in a triumphant gesture to Claudine saying “Bow-tie tuxedo!” Claudine had
interrupted me as I said “tuxedo” after a momentary pause, my mind searching for
the word. I don’t know what she said while I blurted “tuxedo.”
“Big Winner? I had the double action but didn’t call it. Then you’d really
hate me” I responded and left the Senior Center–a member, a winner and
a benefactor.
To Liz, Claudine, Char, Judy, the Reader’s Digest on The Moth [https://www.themoth.org], a New
York global storytelling initiative whose "Mainstage" is in Nashville, Tennessee, the U.S. Mint, and Jesus Christ.
“You’ll win again!” Claudine said. “You’ll win again!”
“You’ll win again!” Claudine said. “You’ll win again!”
Bible reference to the gospel of Mark, chapter 13, verses 33 et
seq.
copyright August 6, 2017
John Rubens
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