Las Vegas, Nevada
The Journal date says Aug 12
I was wrong. Aug 13. Went swimming with Penny again. Harvey had found a guy - older than me. I felt burned. Hope she doesn't get hurt.
Penny came down & we went swimming. After a while we started pushing each other in - in fact that's how she got to know me - she started splashing water at me. I splashed back, we talked and then we went swimming and started pushing each other in. I think this all happened in one day.
Then everyone started pushing everyone else in. It was a lot of fun. I tried to keep Penny from being pushed in too much but she was too vulnerable. Mmmmm.
I grabbed her and threw her in several times myself. Was so delightful. Went diving & pushing other kids in. Was surprised quite a few times. Everyone had loads of fun. We were acting like children again. How nice.
Then they went for lunch. Were supposed to come back later that night. I changed into good clothes and started off for Las Vegas. Was hot and sweaty. I finally got there, located the casinos and parked the car. Had 15 dollars with me. $5 for supper and $10 for the casinos.
Just walked around looking at the other people for about an hour. They were interesting. Then I started playing on the roulette wheel. Made several dollars extra, then more, then more! Then I nearly lost everything. When I was several dollars ahead again I pulled out and cashed them in. Got $2 of nickels and lost it all on the slot machines.
Then I left that casino and started down the row of other casinos. They're almost all the same. Banks of slot machines, with paper cups and coin rolls all over. Quite a few people played the slots. Then there would be about two roulette tables and after that about 30 blackjack tables. To the side somewhere would be two craps tables, both of which would have a crowd around them, and a Keno area.
Keno is something like Bingo. You have to fill in numbers. You can possibly win $25,000. I don't think anyone ever wins though.
And then, always, there's a very nice bar. At that first place I stopped, drinks were free and the waitress always kept me filled up. Too filled up. Had to turn several drinks down.
All the casinos are very nice. Anyway I went on like this for several hours. Lost most of my money and ate supper. Was going to use the rest of the money to make money on roulette. Decided to walk down to the other casino center. Walked and walked and walked. Finally got there.
It is about 3 miles from the historical old casinos to the new casinos, popularly referred to as being on “The Strip“
Went into several high class, very posh places. Watched all the rich bastards lose their money. Saw a few shows. Topless dances - not too interested at that time. Also I felt very out of place. Most people had dinner jackets on and everyone was dressed up.
Stayed for a while then walked back to a bus stop in order to get back to car. While I was waiting this old guy came up and sat down. He had a briefcase full of papers. After shuffling them for a minute he pulled out some sheet music. Then he offered me something that he had in a bottle. Was grapefruit juice and vodka. We shared it, finished it and talked about his work.
He wrote books and music. The bus came. We both went downtown to go drinking again. We went to a hotel so he could drop off his briefcase. The people were very courteous to him even though he was drunk.
Got a few free drinks. Had a different drink each time. He was a homosexual. He wanted me to go with him to his hotel room but I told him to forget it. He accepted that and kept talking and trying to get me drunk. We were having a good time talking, making passes at the girls, and fooling around in general.
After a couple of hours, when I had had too much to drink, I told him goodbye and left. Staggered to the car. Was way too drunk to drive and too sick to sit in the car. Felt terrible. Took the ticket off the windshield and put it in the glove compartment. Then I laid down in the back and spent a restless few hours of sleep. I woke up still somewhat drunk. Also had a headache. I headed back to Lake Mead through the town and paid for the ticket as I left.
This transitions to the next day....
