lined up at the slot machines . . . Cross
over the Delaware Bridge by Wilmington. I'm in northern Maryland, not
too far from there." She gave him directions, and they agreed to meet
around one o'clock.

"Behave yourself with the working girls," she said. "I'll see you in
two weeks."

"Bye," Oliver said.

Jacky hung up, and Oliver turned to Verdi. "I'm in trouble," he said.

At least she hadn't said anything to Francesca. He paced around the
room. What was happening? He was sliding into a life with Jacky. She
could keep him going while he looked for work; he could work anywhere.
Maybe he would do most of the cooking. What would it be like to wake up
next to her every morning? His head spun. What was wrong with this
picture? Anything? Something.

Atlantic City. When Oliver was confused, he tended to put himself in a
situation and see what happened. He was better at resilience than
calculation; he relied on his ability to pick himself up, dust himself
off, and learn from experience. When he tried to think about the
future, his mind turned off. He needed something more concrete to think
about. Casinos.

The next morning, he bought a book on gambling from the bookstore next
to the Victory Deli. He had never been crazy about cards. He had played
enough poker to know how brutal it was. The smartest and toughest
player won. If you were smarter and tougher, you might as well just
take the other person's wallet. It was worse than that. Not only did
you take his money, but you left him feeling responsible, stupid, and
broken. Oliver didn't want to be on either end of that exchange.

As he read about blackjack, he decided against it. He would actually
have odds in his favor if he could count cards without being caught and
thrown out of the casino. He probably could count cards with practice;
he'd been a math major in college; he was comfortable with numbers. But
it would be a lot of work. And he didn't like the idea of relating to
the dealer as an opponent, an enemy working for the house. The dealer
was just trying to make a living.

Roulette was O.K., but it seemed too mechanical and small in scale. The
best roulette odds were not as good as the best odds in craps. Craps
had a traditional sound to it. Oliver studied craps.

Players stood around an enclosed table and took turns throwing a pair
of dice. On the first throw, the player "passed" if a 7 or an 11 came
up. A 2, 3, or 12 was a "no pass." Any other number becam