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“It’s true,” Dillion went on, playing to her now, “the drinking age in Vegas is twenty-one, the gahteen, you have three short years to adjust to the spiritual ean”

The second part hadn’t worked as well as the first, which left hiht Games weren’t that much fun when you knew you would win

He stood up abruptly and headed through the vulgar, insistent glitter of slot h tables of diners until he saw food being delivered He told the people who had ordered the food to walk away Only after they had gone did it occur to hi they should walk He sincerely hoped they did not end up as piles of bleached bones in the pitiless Nevada desert He made a mental note to be more specific in the future: no need to create harht?

Unless it’s funny

He sensed that the unseen audience in his head did not approve of his concern Nor were those unseen watchers pleased with the way he’d spent hours at the roulette table By means he could not hope to explain, they conveyed i It was insistent, relentless, and found an easy resonance in Dillon’s head

You want a show, invisible people in my head? Is that it? You want a show?

Dillon ate what he wanted, then ordered a rando hiht broke out in the kitchen and laughed aloud when the battered, bruised, panting ht hi chefs

“Okay,” Dillon said, “I really need to try andon the other hand, screw it” He looked up at the battered tourist and said, “That cake’s a bit of a mess”

“I’ry kitchen workers said

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Dillon said “You can deal with this yourself This man needs to be punished”

“Punished?” the cake thief said, sounding baffled

“Sure Of course Ia hand cut off”

Was it his i forward in anticipation?

“But I am merciful,” Dillon said To the cheesecake thief he said, “This cook is going to cut off your right index finger, and you’re going to let him”

Sure enough, the hed and flattened his hand, fingers spread, on the table even as he ht”