as it turned out, I had been playing that machine for an incredible five hours straight! I was so completely focused on the machine, and Marco, that I lost track of both time and my bladder. I stretched, drained the last dregs of my most recent Iced Tea, and put in one more chip. This time, as my hand lightly stroked the head of the handle, I imagined that I was stroking Marco’s hard Italian salami, with him kneeling over me, naked, with those incredibly blue eyes staring deep into mine, as he bent forward to kiss me fervently on the lips…

The familiar bells-and-whistles drew me out of my reverie, and I watched as a seeming river of chips shot out of the machine like a spurt of hot jizz. This was by far the biggest win yet – the chips just kept coming and coming. Marco and I were both grinning goofily, and the crowd was applauding and cheering. I said, “It seems a shame to leave all this, but – I REALLY gotta go!”

Marco called for another pit crew guy, and I asked, “Where is the men’s room?”

He pointed it out to me down the corridor a bit, and said, “You go take care of business and meet me at the cashier’s desk (and pointed that out to me also). I’ll wait for you there.”

Before I left, I picked up several large handfuls of chips, and put them in the envelope. “We’ll take care of this at the cashier’s desk, also.” With a nod and wink to Marco, I fought my way through the crowd – who all seemed to want to touch me somewhere – to take a much-needed leak.

When I got back to the cashier’s desk, Marco was standing next to the cashier, looking somewhat stunned but happily so. The cashier said, “Yes Sir, we have it all totaled up. You can take it in cash, which I don’t recommend, or in the form of a cashier’s check.” I asked him how much the total came to, and he replied coolly, as if this was an everyday occurrence, “It comes to twenty-nine thousand, five hundred and seventy-five dollars, sir.”

I very nearly fainted dead away, and felt Marco’s strong hands on my shoulders, steadying me as I stared at the cashier, open-mouthed. “Did I hear that right? Twenty-nine thousand...” I babbled, helplessly, my mind completely blown. That was about two-thirds of my annual salary at the accounting firm where I worked. I stared at Marco, whose bright blue eyes were dancing again, like waves on the Mediterranean. I babbled on, “Is that right? So much?”

The cashier smiled – a bit condescendingly – and said, “Yes sir, that is correct, which is why I don’t recommend taking it – or at least not all of it – in cash.”

I was still stammering, “Can I get the twenty-nine thousand in a cashier’s check, and the rest in cash?”

“Certainly, sir – as you wish. That