Casino Heist

From my pickup truck I watched the woman leave the casino and start across the parking lot. She looked to be about fifty, my mom's age. In her right hand swung a plastic bag with Chinese character's on it. The cloud-filled night sky and the bad lighting in the parking lot made the woman disappear and reappear. When she popped up under a light three rows away, I got out of the pickup and pulled my ski make down over my face.

When I jumped out in front of the woman, her face got all screwed up. The bag of Chinese hit the asphalt. I hadn't meant to frighten her, and it made me feel kind of bad. I just needed to replace the money I'd snatched from my sister's purse while she was asleep.

Stepping back, the woman raised her arm and wagged a curled finger in front of my masked face. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she said. "You almost stopped my heart."

"Sorry," I said. I hoped she caught the sincerity in my tone. I crouched to pick her bag up. A handful of greasy noodles and a couple soy sauce packets had spilled out. I shoved everything back into the bag, got up and handed it back to the woman. "I just need thirty bucks."

She looked inside the bag, frowned and said, "My dinner's ruined."

After apologizing again, I said, "I'm in a fix. I took some money from my sister and she doesn't know about it yet."

She glared at me for a moment. Then her face softened. "How much do you need?"

The eyeholes on my ski mask had slipped a little. I adjusted the mask and said, "Thirty bucks. I need thirty bucks"

The woman seemed to ponder it a moment before shaking her head and saying, "I don't have that much." She raised her left arm. "I have this watch, though," she said, turning her wrist so I could see the tiny face with Roman numerals. "I'll give you this watch." She brought her wrist to her mouth and started to undo the red leather band with her teeth.

"I don't want the watch," I said. She shrugged and quit unlatching the leather band.

Just then a car turned into the lane. It's headlights fell over us.

The car stopped. The driver cranked his window down. "Everything okay?"

"We're fine," the woman said. "Good luck in there."

Before he drove off, the driver smiled and said thanks. One of his taillights was out and I hoped he didn't get a ticket. He seemed like a nice guy.

"You should take your mask off," the woman said. "People might get suspicious."

"I don't want anyone to be able to identify me," I said.

"I've already seen the two tattoos on your neck," the woman said. "It wouldn't be hard to describe you, anyway." I hadn't thought about the tattoos. The squatting frog I got done in San Diego, the Aztec sun came from a small parlor in Tijuana.

The woman stuck her hand inside her bag and it came out holding a stringy noodle. "What did you use the money for?" she asked. She slurped the noodle and offered me the bag. "Want some? It's pork chow mein. I usually order orange chicken, but tonight the orange chicken looked old." When I didn't answer, she peered past my shoulder and said, "Is that your pickup?"

"Yeah," I said.