Gamble Dream

Mangalore Today

Mahesh flipped open his briefcase, and poured Rs.1,000,000 in cash onto the roulette table.  “All in Black,” he said softly. The dealer nodded.  “You’re covered, sir,” he replied.

The auditors were due at office the next day.  A huge sum of money was missing from the account at work.  This bet was his last desperate chance to make up the funds, avoid being caught.

 “The bets are on,” the dealer called, and spun the roulette wheel.
“Oh, Lord,” Mahesh quietly prayed.  “You know how deeply sorry I am.  You know that the money I put on this table is the last I’ll ever, ever steal.  Please, dear sweet Lord, let me win this one last bet, and I’ll pay back all the money I’ve ever taken.  And I swear, from now on I’ll be a good father, a loving husband, and a loyal employee.  Just please, please let me win this one last bet.”

The dealer dropped the tiny silver ball into the wheel, where it danced gracefully around the long circular edge.

“I’ll do charity work,” Mahesh added.  “Well, I don’t know that many charities, but I’m sure there are some good ones in our neighborhood, he prayed. The tiny ball bounced.  A black number, a red number, a black number, a black number, a red number, black, red, black…

The wheel slowly stopped, and the ball came to rest.  Mahesh shut his eyes tight, feeling only the beat of his own throbbing veins, as he listened carefully to the all-important words of the dealer.  “Thirteen,” the dealer said.  “Black.”

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd that had gathered around the table.  Mahesh felt the congratulatory pats of strangers as the dealer dealt out one million dollars in chips, and stacked them on top of Mahesh’s pile. “I did it!” he thought. “Let’s see, I took seven hundred and fifty thousand rupies, and then the extra million for this bet, so I need to put back one million seven hundred and fifty thousand rupies.  And there’s two million in the pile in front of me, so…that leaves me with a profit of Rs.250,000!”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand rupies.  I could use the money for…well, I’ll give a little to some charity, and maybe to a temple.  But I really should take Aishwarya and the kids on a nice long vacation.”  Then Mahesh thought, “What would I tell Ash?  Won’t she wonder where I got this money?  I wouldn’t want to explain to her what happened.”

“But Anjali, on the other hand…” Anjali was the supple nineteen-year-old office clerk who flirted outrageously with Mahesh.  Anjali encouraging Mahesh to steal money out of his business accounts. 

A loud voice interrupted Mahesh’s thoughts.  “Twenty-five.  Red.”
The crowd that had gathered around the table groaned loudly, and then slowly broke up.  A few people patted Mahesh’s shoulders in consolation.  “Sorry,” one stranger said gently to him, before drifting away.

The dealer firmly pushed Mahesh’s hands aside.  “When you leave your money on the table, intentionally or not,” the dealer explained, “you let it ride.  Rules of the house.”