WICKED WEDNESDAY
Please welcome Cara Bertoia to Wicked Wednesday. Let's discover who her most wicked character is to date!
My most wicked character is Derrick from Donegal. When I worked in casinos, I met guys like him from all over the world. Most of them aren’t bad guys; they are just addicted to action, the game, and striking it rich. They work in the gambling business, and they’ve seen enough people win the jackpot at the slot machine, roll a perfect roll at the crap table, and turn $100 into a $1,000, so they think they can do it to. They are on a quest. They are successful in the business for a while, they get promoted, because they are wicked smart, but they always screw it up. They are surrounded by so many temptations, and they’re not really great at self-control or long-term plans. But it’s really not my story to tell, so let me introduce you to Derrick.
She can’t see I am a damn good boss. They should have made me casino
manager instead of her. Whoever heard of a bird running a casino? She’s
probably sleeping with the Chairman John Tovar. I see the way they look at each
other. It’s like they speak a secret language.
Don’t start me on John. All the guest and employees act like he walks on
water. It’s as if they think he’s not just the Indian chief but some kind of
shaman. With his braids he looks like Pocahontas, pretty like a bird. I like
his cousins, the Tovar twins, a whole lot better, they know the score. Don’t
look too closely; don’t upset the good gig we have going on here.
Caroline caused trouble for me since the first day she walked through
the door. Towering over me in her heels, trying to intimidate me. She acted all
lady boss, calm and efficient, but I could tell this wasn’t going to work out.
I don’t know what the problem was, but I have never done well with lady bosses.
They don’t really understand how this business works. Blokes know that if you
scratch someone’s back, they’ll scratch yours in the future. It’s what I did
for my employees. I did favors for them to help them make more money, and they
passed part of it my way. We have an understanding. Do you see the problem?
I first walked into a casino in London when I was laying bricks at the
Golden Nugget. Working inside seemed a damn site better than freezing my bum
out in the cold, wicked streets of the city. I signed up for a grueling
training class in roulette. I remember the thrill I felt the first time I spun
the ball around the heavy mahogany wheel without it flying into space. I had to
memorize so many multiplication tables, it almost did my head in. But I
survived. We started with fifty in the class and ended up with five. I’m glad
to say, London dealers are the gold standard.
We were wanted all over the world, from South Africa to cruise ships
circling the globe. A captive audience. I met the Ex on a Regal Cruise ship. An
American who fancied a man in a suit. I fancied a green card. When the marriage
ended, I walked away with a green card and a restraining order against me. I
tried to get as far away from San Diego as I could which is how I ended up in
this godforsaken desert, with a bitch for a boss. But it is a sweet gig and I
don’t intend to lose it.
It's not my fault, the only thing there is to do around here is play at
the casinos. It’s so hot in the summer you feel it in your bones when you walk
outside. The dust from the wind storms so thick it settles in your suits. I can
only spend so many nights on the couch drinking Guinness and watching the
telly. When I get off work casinos an hour away in every direction entice me to
eat, play, win. I get the itch about half-way through my shift. I drive to
Indio Springs convinced I will walk away with a small fortune and make up for
the losing streak I have been on lately.
At first, it all goes to plan. I keep hitting numbers at the roulette
wheel, turning a thousand into ten thousand. It feels so good to win, there is
nothing that compares, even sex. In the flow, I feel invincible. But a plonker
like me never knows when to quit. I keep telling myself the next roll will be
my last as my pile begins to disintegrate. Before I know it, I am back to my
one thousand and then down to naught. Pissed off at myself, I slam my fist on
the table. A few minutes later security escorts me to the door. Hope the
Chairman doesn’t hear about that.
But I can feel it starting again, that itch. But tonight, I will quit
when I’m ahead. It will happen, I will climb out of this hole. All it takes is
one good night. Only four more hours to go. I walk over to watch the black jack
game and notice this idiot making money hand over fist. But I’m not worried I
know he’ll walk away with nothing. Because it’s hard to walking away from a
winning streak. But I will tonight.
I’ve learned my lesson. Want to come with me to Indio Springs? I could
teach you roulette.
Caroline Popov, alone,
heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California.
Native American casinos have just opened,
thousands of people from all over the world came to work there, money flowed
like water, and real estate became the new status symbol. And then came The
Great Recession, and suddenly the partying stopped.
Alone, desperate and deeply in debt, she lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino. She is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar. Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption. As she moves up through the ranks of management, her bond with John deepens.
In the process of uncovering the underbelly of corruption
her list of enemies grows. Sometimes you have to gamble like your life depends
on it. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?
BUY LINKS:
Cara Bertoia grew up in a strait-laced Southern
family, but she was always fascinated with casinos. In her twenties on a summer
hiatus from teaching in North Carolina, she drove to California and became a
dealer at Caesars in Lake Tahoe. She discovered that after teaching high
school, handling an unruly gambler was a piece of cake. Her mother highly
disapproved of her working in a casino, "a place so bad it has 'sin' in
the middle."
Eventually, she succumbed to pressure from the family and returned east to take a hi-tech job in Boston. She also began working on her MFA in writing at Emerson. Her goal was to write the first realistic novel about casino life from the perspective of an experienced table games dealer. She is always amazed that normal and sometimes quite intelligent players become absolutely clueless in the casino. They repeat superstitious nonsense and no amount of logic can change their position, maybe her novel will.
While in Boston she was offered the opportunity to join Princess Cruises as a croupier. Jumping at the chance, she spent the next five years circling the globe. Sometimes life exceeds your dreams. She was awed by the wonders of Venice, the fjords of Norway, and the Northern Lights in St. Petersburg.
Cara returned from ships with a very special
souvenir, her Scottish husband Ray. They went to work at the Spa Casino in Palm
Springs, and now live in Hollywood, Florida, where she writes about her casino
years while wistfully gazing out at the ocean.
I love to connect with my readers. Please send me a picture with Casino Queen. I will post those pictures to my social media.
TikTok: tiktok.com/@carabertoia
Thank you for hosting me on your great blog, and Derrick thanks you for the chance to plead his case.
ReplyDeleteLOL You are welcome, Cara.
Delete"Casino Queen" sounds like a book I'd surely take a gamble on!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Cara!
I agree, Vali!
DeleteCongrats on your book, Cara. It's not a concept I've heard before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Dee.
Delete