Leaving Las Vegas Read Online Free PDF

counter, one from each fist. He asks the cashier to count them separately. Sera hopes that when she loses money tonight it will be the money from the three boys, but now she’ll never know for sure.
    (“Maybe you should get in. It will be best on you.”
    The voice—some sort of accent—was emanating spectrally from the backseat of the car. She’d heard about this stuff and knew that sooner or later she’d have to deal with it.
    It was all she could do to resist bending down and looking into the car, but she was afraid that if she did she would be lost. Instead she said, “Look, I didn’t know, okay? I’ll work somewhere else tomorrow.”
    A woman’s whisper, then: “I’m not here to… Look at me! I’m not here to tell you where to work.”
    Sera felt the hands on the back of her shoulders, and then she knew that she would be in the car soon.)
    “Time to take a walk, honey.”
    She feels an authoritative hand gripping the back of her arm. She tries to pull away but the grip tightens. Turning, she sees the long arm of a casino security guard.
    “What’s the problem? Let go of me,” she says.
    “We don’t want you in here. That’s the fucking problem,” he says, “and you know it.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything,” she says. She tries painfully to free her arm with a fast downward jerk. “Don’t worry. If you don’t want me in here then I don’t want to be in here. Just let go of my arm and I’ll walk out.”
    “Yeah, we’ll walk out right now, then we’ll both be happy.” He pushes her arm, forcing her forward very fast. His rigid march has her practically running to keep from falling. They reach the sidewalk and, without relaxing his grip on her arm, he grabs between her legs with his free hand and says in her ear, “Next time it won’t be so fuckin’ easy.” He pushes her towards the street and turns back inside.
    She is stunned. She looks around at the crowd of spectators. Baffled, their faces fixed in disapproval and apprehension, they look away from her and mumble nervously to each other. Theymove along. They have no time for people that get thrown out of places. They don’t get thrown out of places. This scene, punctuated with that thought, makes everyone happy with themselves. They’re glad that they don’t get thrown out of places. They move along.
    (A roller-coaster thundered overhead, then rattled down the track. The noise had frightened Sera, sending ice-cream down the front of her sundress; it quickly turned into a gooey, rainbow river, running down her chest, tummy and legs. Her father laughed and bent to clean her with his handkerchief. She looked about reflexively for her mother, a woman tormented by jealousy, and finding her nowhere in sight, embraced him.)
    Sera looks for a cab. Momentarily forgetting about her facial bruises, she wishes she were dressed for work. She’d like to turn a good trick. She heads for the Strip anyway: better drinks, a more well-behaved class of security guard.
    “Closed for remodeling. Try again,” says the cab driver.
    “No way. Since when?” she says, shutting the cab door and rolling down the window.
    “Last week.” He eyes her in the mirror. “You don’t want to go there anyway. How ’bout the Sands?”
    “How about the Trop,” she says.
    “All the way, the Trop. Mind if I play the radio?” He turns on the meter.
    “Go ahead,” she says.
    Turning down his dispatch radio, the driver clicks on a small AM portable hanging on a chain from the rearview mirror. It spits static and fragmented music as he tunes in a station. “I don’t usually do this, but you look like you wouldn’t tell anyone,” he explains.
    “You’re right, I wouldn’t,” she says.
    “…Thank you, John, and God bless you,” trebles the radio.“We have time for one more caller. You’re on the air. Hello? Reverend Phil? Can you hear me? Yes, you’re on the air. Go ahead. Reverend, I just don’t know what