Aertheril Geschichten aus dem Elfenpalast
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The Last State Is The Best - Chapter 2 free porn video
Chapter 2 - On the ground floor
As Lois walked from the parking lot into the skyway that led to the
hotel and casino, she looked through the glass which struggled to keep
out the midday heat. To the left, she saw the tracks of the roller
coaster. The only roller coaster in New York City is in Coney Island.
Lois had been to Coney Island a few times, but she had never ridden the
roller coaster or any of the other rides for that matter. Lois didn't
like amusement park rides or horror movies. She saw no benefit from
being frightened out of your wits or having one's stomach churned into
vomit-inducing nausea.
Coney Island was also the last place that Louis had seen his ex-wife.
Heidi had never been there before and she suggested it was something
they could do until her late afternoon flight from JFK took her back to
Europe. He nearly froze on that chilly, late-April day with the wind
whipping off the ocean. She had originally talked about going to a
museum or seeing a movie on their last day together. It was one of those
warm-cold days where it is hard to know how to dress. The sun was warm
and driving in the car would be warm. But the wind was still cold,
barely one month after winter's end. With the plans switched to Coney
Island, his choice of a long-sleeved shirt and slacks was no longer
adequate.
But Louis went along with the change of plans. And he never complained
about being cold, even when Heidi noticed him shivering and commented on
it. But even total acquiescence on Louis's part could not save their
relationship. When someone is so frightened by intimacy, even an
intimacy that they need so desperately, if they don't have a reason to
sabotage the relationship, they will contrive one. The beginning of
their visit had been wonderful. They walked around a lake together and
Heidi declared that they were going to remain together this time because
it was the devil who wanted to keep them apart and she didn't want the
devil to win. But it didn't take long before the signs were showing that
the devil would win again. A major clue was that Heidi began to start
arguments over the most inconsequential things.
One of the arguments that Heidi picked was about Coney Island itself. It
had been recently announced that a developer planned to raze the
amusement parks. Heidi had mentioned that and said that she was glad
they went because it would probably be her last chance to see Coney
Island before it was gone. Louis replied that, New York City politics
being what they were, it was too soon to assume that it was time to hold
a funeral service for Coney Island. But what most people would have
taken as an impersonal remark in a normal back and forth conversation,
Heidi decided to take personally. She became angry and confrontational
until Louis backed off.
Their marriage had already ended long before that April day at Coney
Island. Fate brought them back together one more time. For a brief time,
the love that they felt for each other came back to the surface. They
were two lonely people with a great need to be loved. Louis also had a
great capacity to give love, and Heidi could reciprocate, at first. But
they were also two people with huge secrets deep inside their closets.
Lois, of course, was Louis's secret. Heidi's was more complicated. She
had shared about personally witnessing her mother's suicide attempts
when she was a young child. But she was in total denial about the
devastating effect it had on her psyche: how it made her hyper-sensitive
to her environment probably to the point of paranoia. Eventually, that
paranoia would make her suspicious of anyone who loved her. The stronger
and more genuine the love, the deeper the paranoia and the more
destructive the sabotage would be.
Time would eventually prove Louis right about Coney Island. Three years
later, it was still offering tacky rides, Nathan's was still selling hot
dogs and on hot summer days, people would still flock to its boardwalk
and the sandy beach and ocean beyond. The developer's plans were another
footnote in the history of Coney Island and this New York City
institution had survived once again.
However, the relationship between Louis and Heidi would not survive. A
week after Coney Island, Heidi chose a trans-Atlantic phone call as the
medium to start screaming demands at Louis. There was no response. Louis
was too overcome with sadness and grief to reply. It would be the last
words they ever spoke to each other. He had gained something: closure.
He had an understanding of why Heidi had left him, an understanding that
was missing when their marriage ended. But he had lost the first true
love of his life, the only person that he would have sacrificed Lois
for. And as weeks passed after that angry phone call, Louis realized
that he lost something else: the last reason to remain Louis. And so the
decision was made to begin transition from Louis to Lois.
As Lois made her way down the skywalk, she began to whistle a tune. It
is a song where the singer also whistles part of it. Louis used to like
to sing along to the song. Fitting with the theme of the casino, it was
a song by a New York musician. It was "The Stranger", by Billy Joel.
Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever,
And we take them out and show ourselves
When everyone has gone.
Some are satin, some are steel,
Some are silk and some are leather:
They're the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on
Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger.
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell.
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger?
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?
Don't be afraid to try again.
Everyone goes south
Every now and then.
You've done it,
Why can't someone else?
You should know by now.
You've been there yourself
Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer.
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize.
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer.
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes
Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger.
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell.
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger?
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?
Don't be afraid to try again.
Everyone goes south
Every now and then.
You've done it,
Why can't someone else?
You should know by now.
You've been there yourself.
You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired,
But he isn't always evil
And he is not always wrong.
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire.
You'll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.
At the end of the skywalk, you enter a level of the hotel containing
meeting rooms. For a moment it surprised Lois, but then she remembered
that people do hold business and investment conferences here. In fact,
these destinations are popular with some groups because it guarantees a
higher attendance at the conference. The attendees feel like they can
write off a vacation as a business expense.
This area of New York New York was quiet on a Sunday afternoon. With
plenty of time on her hands, Lois decided to walk around and explore a
little. And even though this was not the concern to Lois that it once
was, she decided to take the opportunity to use a ladies room that was
most likely very empty.
There wasn't much to see on this level, so Lois soon returned to the
area where she saw the escalator that took her first to a level with
shops and then to the main level of the casino. Leaving Coney Island
and the sky, Lois was on a new ground floor, both of the casino and in
her life.
When you get to the bottom of this escalator, you make a sharp right
turn past some counters where you can sign up for shows, tours and
rental cars and then you are in the epicenter of the casino. To your
left is the hotel registration area. Directly in front of you is the
main casino area. The first thing that Lois noticed was the din. The
casino floor is a noisy place. While there are many carpeted areas,
there are also many hard surfaces to echo the sounds. It wasn't so much
loud as it was an enveloping cacophony. The other thing that Lois was
that she was surprised by how big the casino floor was. She wondered if
you could fit a football field in here.
Lois wanted to explore the casino, but first things first. She looked at
the long lines of people waiting to approach the registration desks and
was encouraged. Perhaps they did allow early check-in. But when she
reached the beginning of the velvet ropes that channeled the flow of
traffic, Lois saw a sign that dashed those hopes. The actual message was
longer and more polite, but it might as well have said, "No early check-
ins. This means YOU!" Lois also knew that it was well past check out
time and if there were no early check-ins what were all these people
doing on line?
It was a rhetorical question. So Lois ventured onto the casino floor.
Now she was able to make out the individual elements of the din: the
various sounds coming from the multitude of electronic slot machines;
the mantra of a dealer or croupier saying "Place your bets" or "No more
bets"; the spinning of wheels or the clicking of the pointer against
pins as the wheel spun.
As she walked the floor, Lois was dismayed by the paucity of table games
compared to the plethora of slots. While Lois was not a gambler, she was
prepared to risk up to $50 just for the experience of saying that she
had gambled once in Las Vegas. If it was lost, she would chalk it up to
entertainment. After all, she was prepared to spend a similar amount on
a show, if one had interested her. Blackjack was her game of choice.
First of all, Lois knew that if you played the game right, blackjack
provided the best odds of winning in Las Vegas. Of course the chances of
winning were still less than 50%, but still pretty close. And Lois felt
that with her math ability and having read up on the game, she could
play the game right - well, as right as you could play it without
counting cards.
When Lois discreetly walked past the blackjack tables, she noticed that
the lowest table limit was $25 per bet. Two plays and she could be done.
That wasn't much of an experience. So, if she wanted to play she was
pretty much limited to the slots. But that created a different problem.
The choice was mind-boggling.
Lois was familiar with the pre-electronic version of slot machines. You
put your coin in, pull down the arm (hence the name one-armed bandit)
and then the three wheels spun and you saw the result: cherries, lemons,
stars, etc. If they didn't match, you lost. The only difference was what
denomination coin were you putting in the slot (e.g., nickel, quarter,
half dollar, dollar). But the new machines were all different: three
wheels, four wheels, five wheels (or the electronic equivalent of a
wheel). Eventually she found some that duplicated the casino table
games, but by the time she saw the few that were like playing blackjack,
Lois was overwhelmed. It was a case of slot machine sensory overload.
Furthermore, the machines didn't take coins any more. You apparently
played with "credits" using some sort of smart card. But she couldn't
figure out how to convert money into credits, even after she checked
into her room, read the guest information folder and watched the casino
channel on the television.
She looked at her watch. There was still 45 minutes to kill before she
could check in. Lois decided to look for ESPN Zone. Had it been a
different time of year, Lois might have bet on some sporting events. But
this was baseball season. Lois didn't particularly like betting on
baseball. So much depended on the pitchers. A pitcher could be having a
terrible streak and then go out and pitch a no-hitter. It was an outside
possibility that Lois would place a bet on a major league baseball game,
but unlikely. If the oddsmakers saw a mismatch, they would adjust the
odds accordingly. She would have preferred football, with a point
spread. But it was exhibition season for the pros and college hadn't
started its season yet. You have to be real desperate for betting action
to bet on exhibition games, and Lois was not desperate to bet. But Lois
could at least sit down, get a snack and something to drink and watch
one of the games for a while.
She walked past an area with TV screens and a low barrier around it. It
was a place where people could bet on horse races and watch the race.
Lois had been interested in handicapping as a child, but the interest
waned before she was old enough to act on it. She didn't play the ponies
now, and she didn't want to resort to doing the girly thing: betting on
a horse because it had a cute name or because the jockey was wearing her
favorite colors. She walked a little further and saw the letters
"ESPN". And then Lois's smile disappeared. The familiar sight of plywood
painted over with a design. A construction zone: ESPN was closed for
renovations. This day was going from bad to worse.
Oh well, now that Lois was over this far, what else could she find? She
saw the section that was meant to resemble the alleys and side streets
of old New York. She saw the places that were supposed to represent
various ethnic restaurants that were typical of the Big Apple, including
Italian, Chinese and a kosher deli. She saw Gallagher's Steak House. At
least one of those actually exists back in New York City. But Lois
wasn't ready for dinner so she went back to the mezzanine to check out
the shops. There wasn't anything Lois was particularly looking to buy.
It was just something to do. She looked at her watch again: ten minutes
to three. Lois decided to head back to the registration line. By the
time she got there, and in anticipation that there would still be a long
line, she would hit the 3 PM timing just about right.
And so it was a few minutes after three when Lois was waved forward by
one of the registration clerks. She gave her name and as the
registration clerk pulled up her information, she pulled out her wallet
and the pages with the room registration information and waited. The
clerk said, "I have your reservation, Ms. Simmons. You will be staying
with us for five nights, checking out Friday morning. Is that correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Do you wish to keep this on your Visa card?"
"Yes," replied Lois, sliding the card across the counter.
The clerk processed the card and handed it back to Lois. Then he pulled
out a letter-sized laminated card. "These are the different styles of
rooms and suites available at New York New York. At your reservation
level, you are entitled to stay at either one of these two classes of
rooms," he said, indicating the area in the lower right hand corner of
the card.
Lois looked for a moment at her choices. One of them was smaller than
the other. But even the smaller one was 20% larger than her apartment.
She touched her index finger against the card to indicate the smaller
one, while using her other hand to tilt it slightly back toward the
clerk. "This one will be fine," she said.
"Very good," replied the clerk. But just as he was about to complete the
processing of Lois's registration, a phone rang and the clerk answered
it. Lois heard the clerk say "Uh huh" a couple of times. Then he hung up
the phone. "Ms. Simmons, I need you to wait here for just a moment. One
of our managers would like to speak to you before you leave the
registration desk."
"Is there a problem?" asked Lois.
"Not that I'm aware of," replied the clerk.
Lois fought back paranoid thoughts. "Surely this is not about my past.
Don't tell me there is still a discrimination problem at this place and
time."
Seconds later a smartly-dressed young woman walked over. "Thank you,
Harry," she said to the clerk. "Go over and open up at position four.
I'll close you out here when I am finished with Ms. Simmons'
registration."
Then she turned to Lois and said, "Welcome to New York New York, Ms.
Simmons. My name is Melissa Stone. We hope you enjoy your stay here. The
..."
Lois interrupted her. "Is there a problem, Ms. Stone?"
"Oh, not at all, Ms. Simmons. And please call me, Melissa."
Melissa paused a second and then continued. "We don't publicize this
very much, but we have a promotion here at New York New York. Once a
day, we select one person at random out of all the people who registered
that day who also live in the real New York. The winner gets a $75 gift
certificate, good at any one of our New York themed restaurants here at
our hotel casino. Congratulations, Ms. Simmons, you are today's winner."
"Wow!" replied Lois. "I almost never win anything. And here I win in Las
Vegas without placing a bet. And please, call me Lois."
"Thank you, Lois. We had a problem last year with some counterfeit gift
certificates. So on the certificate, I need to put your name and the
name of the restaurant you will be choosing. Do you need to see a list
of the restaurants where you can redeem the prize?"
"Well, I arrived a little early so I had a chance to walk around a bit
before registering. May I use it at Gallagher's Steak House?"
"Excellent choice. I'm sure you will enjoy your meal there."
The two women smiled at each other and Melissa filled in the information
on the gift certificate. Then Melissa said, "If you don't mind me
asking, are you planning on doing any hiking or sightseeing of the area
surrounding Las Vegas?"
"I thought I might. Why do you ask?"
"Well, there are a number of tours available around Las Vegas. But I
like to recommend Bolder Tours to our guests. The tour covers Hoover
Dam and the area around Lake Mead on the Nevada side."
"Boulder Tours ... you aren't recommending them because your last name is
Stone, are you?"
Melissa laughed. "No, it isn't spelled that way. It is "Bolder" without
the "u". I think they originally planned to name it with the "u" after
the original name of the dam. But they found out the name was taken by a
company in Boulder, Colorado.
"Anyway, I just happen to think that they have the best tour, and
particularly, one of their tour guides is the best in Las Vegas. If you
go on the 9 AM tour tomorrow morning, he will be leading that one."
"Is he your husband or boyfriend, Melissa?"
"No, Lois. Let's just say I know him quite well. He is very single."
Melissa paused and then added, in a softer but more direct voice, "And I
happen to know he is very available."
Seeing that Lois had no response to this, Melissa studied her for a
moment and then said, "Here's your restaurant gift certificate. Let me
finish up your registration paperwork, so you can begin to enjoy the New
York New York experience."
As Melissa handed her the customer copy of the paperwork, "It was nice
to meet you, Lois. Thank you for choosing New York, New York."
"It was nice to meet you, too, Melissa. I'm sure that I will enjoy my
time here, especially the free dinner. I still can't believe I won. And
I think I will take your suggestion about going on the tour tomorrow. I
was considering touring Hoover Dam when I left Las Vegas to return to
Phoenix to fly home. But I was concerned with what I read about the
traffic jams and vehicle inspection causing a major delay. If I see the
dam and area this way, I can go to Phoenix via Laughlin and avoid the
problem. Just my luck to miss the completion of the new bridge bypass by
a few months."
"I'm glad you decided to take the tour, Lois. I know you will really
enjoy it. Now don't tell anyone I told you this, but I suggest that you
not stay up too late tonight gambling. Nine o'clock rolls around pretty
fast, and you will have a few hours of physical activity tomorrow. And
in a few places the trail can be a little strenuous."
"Thanks for the advice, Melissa. I have been traveling for a few days
just to get here, and it has been a bit tiring. So other than enjoying a
wonderful dinner on the house, I will be relaxing in my room."
Lois went back to the parking lot and retrieved most of her bags. She
wondered why Melissa would tell her about the tour guide being single,
since Melissa knew that Lois would be leaving at the end of the week.
But then Lois reasoned that she had been the one to ask if Melissa had a
relationship with the guide. Melissa probably figured that she was
looking for a romantic fling as part of her vacation adventure.
Lois opened the door to her room and couldn't believe how large it
looked. It couldn't be called elegant, but it was attractive. It was
mostly in earth tones, with some light and dark blue. The curtains were
dark brown and dark blue squares for privacy and to keep out the hot
sun. The carpets and walls were sand-colored with blue-gray accents.
The furniture was primarily a dark, rich wood, but the face of the
drawers and the wardrobe surrounding the television were squares of wood
of various shades. The bed covers were cream with a blue-gray vine
running through it, the cushion to the desk chair was blue-gray and the
two overstuffed guest chairs were maize and tan. Everything was very
clean and in excellent condition. Lois quickly checked the bathroom,
then decided that she needed to use it. It had lots of chrome and glass
and was very large.
Still, it was a hotel room and Lois went through her usual drill. She
turned on the television to make sure that it and the remote worked. Not
many channels available on this, she noted. The casino wants as little
incentive as possible for people to be staying in their rooms rather
than spending money gambling or in a restaurant or at a show. She did
notice a few special channels related to the hotel casino and to the Las
Vegas area attractions. She made a note to check them out later.
She took out her laptop and set it up. She noted that it was a wired
connection, but supposedly high speed. She read the instructions on how
to set it up and did so. However, she just went to some basic sites
like Google to test the connection. Satisfied, she turned it off again.
She had been online that morning before she left Utah. There shouldn't
be anything too urgent on a Sunday afternoon.
Lois was more interested in what she would wear on the tour tomorrow.
She looked through her clothing and decided that she really didn't have
anything appropriate. So she went back downstairs, bought a ticket for
the tour and then went back to the mezzanine to do some shopping. Soon,
she had some pre-washed jeans, a western style shirt (a little more
subtle than what Dale Evans might have worn, but with a little touch of
embroidery to let you know it was a women's shirt), and a ladies' cowboy
hat. A little sun was good for Lois's skin, but there can be too much
of a good thing. She already had plenty of sun block.
She decided against boots. She didn't bring her pair on the trip, and
she wasn't about to break in a pair on a day she was doing a lot of
walking and hiking. She found a comfortable pair of sneakers designed
for walking and bought those. She wondered for a moment how she would
get all of this in her luggage for the flight home, but then she
remembered the trick her ex used. The day before going home, she would
get a medium-sized box from some grocery or department store, buy a
small roll of packing tape and a marking pen, fill it with things she
would not need right away when she got home, and mail it to herself.
Lois went to her car one more time, retrieved her remaining bags and
returned to her room. She wasn't quite ready for dinner and she also
wanted to try on her new outfit. Everything fit well, and she decided
she looked cute and not too much like someone from New York who was out
west for the first time. She took off the outfit and put it on a
separate hanger in the wardrobe, ready for tomorrow.
She turned down the bed and crawled under the covers in just her bra and
panties. She turned on the television, checked out the Vegas channels a
little more closely, then she decided to take a nap before dinner. She
set the alarm clock, soon fell asleep, and woke twenty minutes later,
feeling refreshed. A quick shower and change of clothes into something
more suitable for dinner at a nice restaurant added to her refreshment.
By the time that Lois went downstairs to dinner, it had been nearly 8
hours since she last ate, and she was starved. The gift certificate
instructed her to present it when greeted upon entering the restaurant.
Upon seeing Melissa's signature on the bottom, it seemed like suddenly
Lois was getting extra special treatment. She started with a shrimp
cocktail and a salad with ranch dressing. Her filet mignon entr?e was
done to perfection, very pink and juicy. She couldn't finish the baked
potato with sour cream and chives. Stuffed, she passed on dessert,
finishing her meal with a cup of hot tea. She looked at the bill. After
subtracting the $75, once she added in the tip it was still going to
cost her more than she normally paid at a restaurant. But it was worth
it.
It was close to nine o'clock as she started to leave the restaurant .
Suddenly she bumped into a solid object. She looked up directly into the
smiling steel-gray eyes of a tall, muscular, handsome man. He was
casually dressed, and very tan. His light-brown hair was wavy and well-
groomed. He had a beautiful smile with both his mouth and his eyes, and
it was aimed directly at Lois.
"Pardon me, young lady. I need to pay closer attention to where I'm
walking. Are you all right? I hope I didn't startle you."
"I'm okay, thank you. No harm done. And I also wasn't paying attention
to where I was going."
"Well all right then. You take care, now, you hear?"
"I will. Good night," said Lois. And after the two of them parted, Lois
realized that she really had been startled, first by the collision and
then by how gorgeous this man was. She was so startled, in fact, that
flirting, still something of a new habit for her (with a man, anyway)
was something she didn't think of doing until after it was too late.
Lois returned to her room and got settled in for the night, kicking
herself all the way until she fell asleep.
End of chapter 2
In Memory: While the author was preparing this story, news was reported
of a helicopter crash related to an aerial tour of Las Vegas and Lake
Mead, killing the pilot and all four of the passengers. This chapter is
dedicated in memory of them.
Disclaimer: The author has no knowledge of any promotion of the New York
New York Hotel and Casino as described in this chapter, nor any similar
promotion. This is a fictional account, and the author has included this
fictional promotion as a literary device to advance the plot. Further
discussion of this promotion will occur in a later chapter and should
help to clarify matters.
Sherry
- 03.07.2022
- 6
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