Today was a beach day. What more can I say? It was very relaxing. Eagle Beach -- the beach in front of our resort -- has great sand and smooth water for floating on Swimways, though the water gets very deep very fast, and the incessant wind carries up away from the shore quickly when we are floating. But it was still very relaxing. And there was lots of opportunity for people-watching and people-speculating, which always makes for an entertaining day at the beach. Especially when you're there with Judi.
Lunch was at The Islander, La Cabana's poolside restaurant. We tried the potato wedges topped with cheese as an appetizer, and they were okay but forgettable. There, I've forgotten them. Then we had burgers. The burgers were nothing short of fabulous. First, the burgers themselves were huge. And they were lumpy and uneven -- obviously hand-formed, which is always better. And they were perfectly cooked -- well done but still juicy. And the meat had a great flavor somehow. I got mine topped with onion rings, and when it was delivered to our table there were so many onion rings that I swear the distance from the top edge of the bottomside bun to the bottom edge of the topside bun was a good six inches. It was held together, not by a toothpick, but by a skewer. I kid you not.
Judi got the bacon burger, and we added cheese, and there was so much bacon on her burger that the spread from bottom-bun to top-bun was, if not quite as impressive as mine, still four or five inches.
We squashed our burgers down as far as we could and stretched our mouths as wide as we could and proceeded to enjoy ourselves to no end.
And as if this experience couldn't be any better, the ice tea was real, the most excellent tasting tea we have had on the island so far, and refills were free!
The service was excellent, too.
In the evening we went to the Wyndham so Judi could gamble in the casino. She promised to be only two hours, and she was really there for only two hours and forty-five minutes -- that's not bad. She was supposed to spend only 0, and she really lost only 0 -- that's not bad, either. On the way home I told her she owed me 0 but she doesn't believe me. She had seven drinks, but insists she only had four. And she says she'll never gamble again. Yeah, right, like I haven't heard that a million times before. A sucky, sucky evening. (Note: Judi did repay me 0 the next day, and did admit she had seven drinks.)
While we in the casino, I noticed (what else do I have to do but notice things?) a blonde in a two-tiered black skirt, flip flops, and a top that didn't go with her bra (which showed); paired with a guy in a collared knit shirt, untucked, and baggy shorts hanging down to his knees. They were both very young. She was playing a slot machine, but her heart didn't seem to be in it. I've been there, done that, and I know the signs -- gaze wanders, look of desperation as money dwindles, etc. True gamblers aren't desperate. They are exhilarant, even when losing.
He was playing the next machine over. Then she stopped playing and turned in her seat and was obviously pleading with him -- talking intensely, putting her hands on his arm. "Good luck, sister," I thought. After a long time and a lot of words, they got up and headed, together, for the casino exit. She had a thin white purse with a strap so short that when she slung it over her shoulder it was snug in her armpit.
And I thought that was the last of them. My attention wandered to other things. So I was surprised when a half-hour later they showed back up, coming around the end of our row of slot machines, her hand on his arm, heading for the cashier (who was right behind us). Had they still been in the casino all this time?
But he veered off from the route to the cashier and started popping money into another machine. She had her hands on his arm again. More words ensued. He drifted to another machine. These were five-dollar machines (I had first seen them on dollar machines). Eventually they made it to the cashier. On their way out, from the cashier, he stopped at a twenty-five dollar machine and she watched hopelessly while he fed whatever he got from the cashier into the machine. It spun at least twice, and he may have played or on each spin. I don't know. I just know that when the reels stopped and he'd won nothing they left, and he had nothing.
Sister (and I do feel a kinship with you), don't ever take vacations where casinos are available. That's your only, only hope. I know.
Text and images © Copyright Gregory Smith or Judith Fulks 2005