Hey Arnie

The Cooler: Chapter 16

“Welcome to Ballys. Oh, you're the guy with the crazy friend,” the valet said as he opened the cab door. It was the same valet that had gotten JJ a cab to get to Sunset Park.

“Have you seen him since then?” JJ asked.

“No, he must have taken the threat from security seriously. Good luck,” the valet said as he stepped away to take care of a car that drove up.

“Man, those valets must be part cactus to not be bothered by the heat,” JJ said as he stepped into the casino and out of the August Vegas heat.

JJ could see Raul sitting at the lobby bar, looking a little out of place. Most of the other patrons had their heads down and their fingers on the buttons to quickly choose the cards to discard or keep. Raul was sitting enjoying a beer more than playing video poker. It looked like he had put a quarter in and then didn’t realize what he had to do after that. He kept looking down and touching different parts of the screen. JJ saw him look up to ask the bartender something when he saw JJ and waved.

“Hey, Raul,” JJ said as he sat down on the empty bar stool next to him. “I’ll have a beer and change,” JJ said to the bartender, handing him a twenty.

“Do you know how to play this?” Raul asked.

JJ reached up and put his hand with his watch on Raul’s shoulder and said, “Just hit the deal button.”

“Ok,” Raul said and did as he was told. The machine did its thing, dealing five new cards face down. After a moment, the machine revealed the face of the cards, exposing a royal flush. The machine started spitting out quarters while Raul simply looked, with his mouth hanging open.

“Uh, I won,” he said as the quarters continued the waterfall into the metal bucket.

“Nice, you should have bet the max, and then you would have won over five thousand,” the bartender said. “The slot attendant will be by shortly to pay out the rest,

“Thank you. The rest?” Raul asked.

“Yes, the machine will only pay out a hundred in quarters. The rest will be in cash,” the bartender said. “Would you like another beer?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Raul said. JJ just watched as Raul continued to look lost, not knowing what to do.

“Have you ever won a jackpot?” JJ asked.

“I’ve never even played a slot machine. Is it that easy to win? I will have to quit my cashier job and just start playing slot machines.” Raul said.

“No, it is not that easy. You won because I gave you some luck, some wild magic,” JJ said.

“But I thought you said you didn’t know anything about magic?” Raul asked.

“I’m learning. I came into town about a month ago and found out I was a cooler,” JJ said. He then went on to tell Raul about being a cooler and how he lost his ability.

“So you had a brand on your back that was what caused you to be a cooler?” Raul asked.

“Yeah, it was a spell that someone put on my back,” JJ said.

“Who put it on you?” Raul asked.

“I don’t know, but I have my suspicions,” JJ said.

“You don’t remember when it could have happened?” Raul asked.

“That’s the funny thing. When I first got into town, I knew who I was and what I was doing. Now, what I thought I knew and remembered about myself and my life before I arrived in Vegas has faded like a dream in the morning light. I remember something about leaving my home to go to LA and seek my fortune, but in that memory, I am twenty,” JJ said, and Raul simply kept his mouth shut and took a sip of beer, “I know what you are thinking. I look like I’m in my mid-thirties.”

“Yeah, that's about right,” Raul said, not wanting to insult JJ.

“Sir,” a slot attendant interrupted the conversation.

“Oh, are you the person with the rest of the money?” Raul asked after turning around to see who addressed him.

“Yes sir, I just need an ID,” she said to Raul’s question.

“Here you go,” Raul said, handing her his driver's license.

“Oh, a local,” she said when she looked at the license. “I always like to see a local get a payout.” She reached around Raul with a key and then turned it in the machine. It went back to the waiting-for-a-coin screen. “Here you go, four hundred dollars.”

“Thank you,” Raul said, putting the money into his wallet.

JJ saw that Raul didn’t know the etiquette of tipping the person who pays out a jackpot to you. So he grabbed his wallet, pulled out a fifty, and gave it to the attendant.

“Here you go, he’s never been into a casino,” JJ said, trying to cover for the slight.

“Thank you. Good luck to the two of you,” the slot attendant said before she turned to go about her duties.

“I didn’t know you’re supposed to tip the slot attendants,” Raul said.

“Only when they pay you a jackpot,” JJ said.

“Thank you, here,” Raul said, handing JJ one of the hundred dollar bills he had just received. “Do you have change?”

“No, but we need to get on with why we are here,” JJ said and then flagged down the bartender.

“Can you make change?” JJ asked when the bartender came over to the two of them.

“No problem. Would you like to pay for his beer now?” The bartender asked.

“He didn’t get quarters?” JJ asked.

“No, so he just needs to pay for the first one; the second one was for the win,” the bartender said.

“Yeah, that will be fine,” JJ said.

When the bartender came back with change, JJ handed Raul a fifty and pocketed the rest.

“Well, thank you for the beer and the luck?” Raul said. “You will have to tell me how you did that.”

“I barely know how I did that myself, but I will try,” JJ said. “Let’s go say hi to Arnie.”

“Sounds good,” Raul said and then started out with a stride that JJ would have to run to keep up.

“Slow it down; my legs are not that long,” JJ said.

“Oh, sorry, I’m just excited to see Arnie again. It’s been a while since I had a lesson with him,” Raul said.

“Hmm, that’s a good idea. Maybe I can get a lesson, too,” JJ said, and now he was not having any problems keeping up with Raul.

“For some reason, I was avoiding lessons from him at first,” JJ said.

“Have you not had any lesson from him? Maybe he will teach you to see magic,” Raul said as he held the door for JJ.

“I have had one lesson from him already, and he taught me the spell for magic sight,” then, without thinking, JJ said the spell.

“No!!! What are you doing,” Raul exclaimed.

JJ saw everyone in the lobby area stop what they were doing to look at what had happened. There were a few people sitting at slot machines just inside the door that didn’t seem to notice the sudden outburst. JJ looked closer at them and realized that their eyes were just holes, and they seemed to be a little translucent. JJ shook his head and said the spell to turn off the sight before he saw more people or things than he wanted to.

“Wow, that was … was … interesting,” JJ said.

“Are you alright?” Raul asked with concern in his voice.

“Yeah, I just caught a glimpse of some people who died in the fire here,” JJ said.

“Arnie said if you looked with magic vision, you would go crazy almost immediately,” Raul said.

“Yeah, he gave me the same warning. I don’t know why I said it.” JJ said.

“That was good you didn’t go crazy before you could turn it off. Did you see anything else?” Raul asked.

“Not really. When I realized what I did …” JJ trailed off in thought. “You know, I don’t think I saw anything else, but I could almost feel that if I looked around, I could see someone … no, something else …” JJ again stopped talking, thinking about what he had felt.

“Arnie did say that there were horrible creatures that occupy the magical realm; I’m sure you’re just lucky you didn’t see one; you would be going to a mental ward at UMC for sure,” Raul said.

“Oh shoot, UMC, I need to go there right after we talk to Arnie,” JJ said.

“UMC, why do you need to go there?” Raul asked.

“I need to go visit a … uhm. I guess he’s a friend,” JJ said.

“What do you mean by, uhm, a friend?” Raul asked,

“That’s another long story. I’ll tell you about it next time we have some beers in front of us,” JJ said.

“Would you like a ride over to UMC?” Raul asked.

“Uhh,” JJ thought about it for a second, not sure if he wanted to let Raul get involved, “Yeah, that would be great.”

“Good, we’ll go there right after we leave Arnie’s,” Raul said.

They had stepped up the curb of the sidewalk in front of the storefronts, which included the Crystal Palace. “Ooof,” JJ said and stopped when a sudden sharp pang of danger hit him.

Raul looked back at him and said, “What?”

“I don’t know. I just got a sudden bad feeling. No, that’s not right. It was almost like I went through a spider web, but more than that,” JJ said.

“A spider web? Arnie was just starting to teach me about protective wards and had me walk through one he had created; it was like walking through a web. Maybe Arnie has added some new protections around his place,” Raul said.

“Yeah, that was probably all it was,” JJ said. He shook his head to clear it and then stepped up to the shop door.

Raul opened the door to the Big Top Casino and then said, “After you.”

JJ stopped and looked at Raul and the door. “This is the Big Top, not Arnie’s shop,” JJ said.

“Yeah, we were going to go get a beer …. wait, we were going into Arnie's place to see how he was doing; how did we end up at Big Top, and why do I think we were going to get a beer?” Raul asked.

“Welcome to my world,” JJ said. “I think we were victims of a redirect spell.”

“A what?” Raul asked.

“A redirect spell is a simple spell that puts a hypnotic suggestion in your head to get you to do something if your intentions are not what the caster wants you to do,” JJ said.

“For someone that doesn’t know magic, you seem to know a lot about it,” Raul said.

“I don’t know much. I just encountered the redirect spell recently at the imperial palace. Since we’re here, let's go get a beer, but let's go over to lots of slots and have a dog with the beer,” JJ said.

“Mmm yeah, I’m hungry. What time is it?” Raul asked.

“Excuse me, ma'am,” JJ said to an older woman walking from Lots of Slots to Big Top.

“What can I do for you, young man?” She asked.

“What time is it? My watch seems to be off,” JJ said.

“Oh,” she said, looking at her watch. “It is five forty pm.”

“Thank you,” JJ said.

“Uh, we met at Bally’s at three; where did the two hours go?” Raul asked with some concern in his voice.

“That's the thing about redirect spells: you go off doing something in a fugue state, and when you regain your senses, you are somewhere else with no idea what you did,” JJ said.

“Do you think we did anything wrong while we were out of it?” Raul asked as he reached into his jacket pocket.

“I don’t think we … “JJ started to say and then stopped when Raul pulled the but of a gun out of his jacket.

JJ’s eyes got big, and then he urgently said, “Put that away! Where did you get that? Did you expect trouble at Arnie's?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before,” Raul said. “I am getting a little scared that maybe we did something bad.”

“Come on, let's get something to eat and talk about it,” JJ said, turning and going into lots of slots.

* * *

“So what do you think?” Raul asked. They had ordered the beer and foot-long hot dog and had a seat at one of the white fiberglass tables.

“I don’t think we did anything that would be too bad. Everyone always says you can’t do something you wouldn’t do normally while under hypnosis.” JJ said.

“But how did I get this?” Raul said again, reaching into his pocket. “Hmm,” Raul pulled out a slip of paper that was in his pocket next to the gun. “It's a receipt,” Raul said and then proceeded to read the text. “Pawn and Guns. One 38 SN three hundred and fifty dollars. That makes me feel better. I must have bought the gun,” Raul said.

“But why did you need a gun? What did that redirect spell try to get us to do, and who was it directed to?” JJ asked.

“What do you mean by directed to?” Raul asked.

“Well, when I encountered a redirect spell last time, it redirected me when my intention was to find out what was causing so much good luck. Every time I tried to go into the Imperial Palace to do that, it sent me off to random places, so that spell was to block anyone investigating the lucky Buddha,” JJ said.

“So, how did you get by it?” Raul asked.

“I kept repeating to myself that I was going in to gamble, and I was going to win big,” JJ said.

“Really? And that worked?” Raul asked.

“Yes, so now we need to figure out what caused the spell to send us off,” JJ said, taking a bite out of his hot dog before it got cold.

“Eat up while it's still warm,” JJ said, seeing Raul thinking and completely ignoring his gourmet hotdog.

“Oh yeah,” Raul said, looking down, interrupting his thoughts of the spell.

“This is not bad,” Raul said after taking his first bite.

“I don’t think we have a problem with the cops; security here would have had them here already if the cops were looking for us,” JJ said.

“That's a relief,” Raul said and then went back to his hot dog and beer.

JJ sat in silence as well, thinking about what caused Raul and him to be redirected.

“I keep going over in my head about what could have caused us to be sent off,” Raul said. “Do you think Arnie set the spell or someone else?”

“I don’t know to both; I can’t imagine Arnie would have created a spell to block us from his shop. Everyone in the group is getting along with him, aren't they?” JJ asked.

“Yeah, everyone wants to learn from him so he could hit them with a stick, and they would say, ‘Thank you, sir, may I have another.’” Raul said.

“So, who created the spell? Have you heard of any other magicians — I mean practitioners in town?” JJ asked.

“No, everyone involved in real magic in town that I know about is in the group,” Raul said.

JJ took a long drink of his beer to think about the spell.

“Well, I’m at a loss as to who created the spell. I guess we still need to try and talk to Arnie,” JJ said.

“How close can we get before the spell affects us?” Raul asked.

“The spell at the palace didn’t activate until my hand was inches from the door handle. Why, what are you thinking?” JJ asked.

“I’m thinking that maybe we try again but one of us stands far enough away to not trigger the spell, while the other one tries to go in,” Raul said.

“That is a great idea. Then, when I am going to try and rob a bank, you can stop me,” JJ said.

“So you think you need to try and go in?” Raul asked.

“Yes, I couldn’t exactly stop you if you were commanded to do something,” JJ said.

“Oh good, I’m not sure I want to go through the experience of being under a spell again, I don’t know what we did and don’t want to risk doing something illegal again,” Raul said in relief.

“Yes, it is a disconcerting experience, but recently, my reality has been a little wonky, so one more time losing control won’t make me happy, but it won’t kill me, and we need to talk to Arnie. I think it's getting to be urgent now that someone put a spell around his shop. Besides, you are called guardian, so you can be the guardian,” JJ said.

JJ started to take another drink of his beer and then thought better of it. “I should probably have a clear head when we try to go in.”

“You said you were thinking about winning big and then the palace let you in, what do you think you need to think about to go into Arnie’s?” Raul asked.

“Well, I’m guessing that the spell is not redirecting his customers, or he might notice, or he might just think it's a slow week. But if we assume that it's not directed against customers, then it's directed against anyone who knows Arnie as Arnie, not Ahmonket, so I have to think about getting luck from the Egyptian priest Ahmonket. If I keep that in mind, I should be able to go through,” JJ said.

“All right, we have a plan. Shall we go,” Raul said.

“Ok,” JJ said, a little taken aback by the sudden action by him. JJ stood up and followed Raul. “Let's get a cab. We can get one at the back of Big Top.”

“Good idea,” Raul said after the Vegas heat hit him. “Suddenly, walking to Ballys does not seem like a great idea.”