AGAINST THE ODDS

October 15, 2006, 9:55am: I'd said 'sayonara' to the Missing Digits crew and left the Jockey Club just around sunrise.

Later on in the week, long after I'd returned to L.A. and the Missing Digits had concluded their extended stay in Nevada, JJ called me and informed me that they got a flat tire on their trip home.

The curse was real.

When I got back to the Palace Station, the bachelor party boys were still asleep. After rousing them awake and reminding them of check-out time, I went down to the lobby, still frying off of E and waiting for the Wolf Man to meet me for a breakfast buffet.

I killed time by telephoning Rose, to let her know that I was not going to attend a proposed BBQ she and her "boyfriend" had planned for later on in the day. She didn't pick up; I left a VM.

Wolf Man and I decided to leave Las Vegas after the noontime rush. KD Long wasn't coming with us on the ride back, which was good for me and Wolf: KD talked way too much for his (or anyone's) own good.


*/*


October 15, 2006, 1:23pm: After agreeing to meet Down Low, his brother A-Team, BJ Fornicati and KD Long at the Golden Nugget for one last stab at gambling, Wolfie and I drove to get some gas for the rental.

We had KD Long's credit card, which was his way of reimbursing me for the gas we used on the way to Sin City. Wolf and I joked about spending it on bullshit and strippers, which made KD frown a bit.

As I loaded a bowl in my pipe, I saw a Mexican woman in a truck next to me. She was eyeing me, but not in a sexy way. I put the pipe in my lap and pretended that I didn't see her, but it was too late: her boyfriend, a tattooed gangbanging veterano, also saw me and started trying to signal us.

"Hey man!" He yelled out to me. "You got some herb?"

I nodded.

"How much you got? I'll buy some off you!"

I looked over at Wolf, who merely shrugged and said, "Hey, man... it's your weed."

I was almost tempted to do the transaction right there on the Vegas Strip, in traffic, in full broad daylight, because that would have perfectly capped off an outrageous weekend of brazen illegality such as this one. But I also remembered the curse looming over the proceedings, and decided that the deal must be done at the gas station.

Before I could say anything, the O.G. and his old lady in the pickup truck slowed down, pulled behind us, then switched lanes again to get on the passenger side.

"Tell 'em to follow us," I said to Wolf.

"Follow us!" Wolf repeated.

We got to the gas station and the deal was quick and easy: $10 worth from my stash, with plenty left over for me and Wolf to smoke on the ride home.

"I'm new here to LV," the vato said to me as he threw the money through the driver's window into the driver's seat. "I don't know no one out here."

"You're lucky you ran into us," I said, "but we're headed back to Los Angeles."

"I guess you're the only luck I've had so far," he laughed. "I lost $300 this morning on Blackjack."

"Play Craps, man," I recommended. "The odds are better."

"I gotcha, bro. Hey, thanks again. Nice to meet you."

We slapped five, and I had the weed in my palm. He grabbed it and smiled and hopped back into the truck. He and his woman were gone by the time Wolf came out from the pay station.

"How'd you know he wasn't a narc?" Wolf asked me.

"I just knew. Just like I knew we weren't going to get pulled over for the rental's tags while in Vegas, just like I knew we wouldn't get thrown out of the hotel, just like I knew Low wasn't going to want to go to a strip club, or any of it... Sometimes, you gotta have a little faith, even when the odds are against you and the going looks bleak."

"What do you think our ride home is going to be like?"

"There'll be something... there always is... but we'll make it home fine. It might take a while, but if we're smart, we can avoid any bullshit that comes our way."

"Dude, since you were up all night, and I at least got some sleep, I'll drive the whole way home," Wolf said. "Plus, you drove all the way here, so I owe it to you."

"Yeah, thanks. At least KD isn't coming with us."

"I know. Dude, I wanted to strangle him on the way over here..."

"Can you imagine his reaction if we'd hooked up that gangster dude while he was with us?"

Wolf and I laughed.

"He would've shit himself." Wolf was feeling better, a far cry from his near-panic attack during the hotel security guard snafu.

"It's all about keeping your cool when the shit gets gnarly," I said. "No matter what happens, you gotta keep your cool. Nothing can hurt you if you believe in yourself and your ability to persevere."

"Yeah, but you gotta be careful," Wolf cautioned. "Murphy's Law, you know."

"Well, thats' the thing, Wolfie. Everyone wants to play it loose and rough, but when the shit hits the fan no one can deal. Like the hotel thing: Guys like KD and BJ wanna act like they're big shots, but all it took was one old-ass security guard with no power to make them scared. If anyone had rights to be freaked, it was you and Low because you two were the ones who spoke with the guard. But you guys handled it as well as you could."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Everyone wants to live dangerously, but no one wants to pay the price when it's time, right?"

"Right."

We got back on the road and drove over to the Golden Nugget to give KD back his credit card and say 'adios' to the rest of the guys.

We didn't tell the rest of the guys about our impromptu drug deal. It really wasn't necessary.


*/*


October 15, 2006, 7:53pm: The dark clouds that we found ourselves immersed in were from a fire in the El Cajon pass (which we were slightly north of) and by shifting onto the 138 Hwy in time we managed to avoid the snarling traffic that would've delayed us by hours instead of half an hour.

After making the jump to the 138, Wolf and I decided to take a pit stop at a gas station right past the I-15/138 interchange.

The station was near-total chaos: Cars covered in soot, RVs mired in ash, huge lines for the restroom and the food counter, people milling about in nervous anticipation, trying to use their cel phones in vain...

Wolf and I looked at each other. I said, "Our best bet is to get back on the road and get into town before we stop again."

It took an hour before I could look up at the passing night sky and see stars. The smoke was so thick and black that for that duration of the trip we were covered in complete and utter darkness. Finally, some distant stars began to poke their way out, and that clued me in to our escape from the fire zone.

At one point we wondered why the highway hadn't been closed off; It wasn't until we got got back home and read the news that we figured it out geographically.

"Dude, we made such good time," Wolf said to me. "We'll be back at my place in Pasadena in less than an hour. Then you can get home from there. Feel free to take a nap until we get into the city."

"I think I will," I said.

I slept for the first time that entire weekend, and it felt so good.


END