Mina's made-up face reflected off the blackened glass of the taxi. It had just pulled in front of her apartment to take her to her destination.

Her normally long brunette hair that spilled onto her shoulders was tied up in a ponytail, and her eyes were tipped with wings of eyeliner. Long purple feathers hung from her ears which she preferred for parties as they were well, feather-light and she wore a matching purple dress that was popularized on an album cover of her favorite country-pop artist, Taylor Switch.

The window rolled down to reveal her favorite driver. Round, bald and smelling of processed meats, D. Vito's face lit up when he saw her, but it was more in the way of happy grandpa. "Aw'right!" D. Vito barked. "Who's da lucky, bub, so I know what kind of biscotti to bring to da wedding!"

Mina shaded bright red. "W-what?! I was invited to a Christmas party?!"

D. Vito raised an eyebrow with a grin. "Yer tellin' me you dressed dat way for Santa?!"

Mina giggled. It was a dumb joke, but exactly what she needed.

"Come outta da rain kid!" D. Vito said, pulling his hand back. "I forgot, unlike da Bronx, it neva snows here. So, it seems we're all dreaming of a wet Christmas like da ones we used to know!"

He winked at her as she entered.

"But...I'll ease up on the double entendres as I could easily make a crack about my third ex wife."

The man cackled with his phlegmy smoker's laugh as Mina got herself seated in the taxi's backseat. The warmness and smell of cheese and crackers always made her feel right at home, which for a taxi cab, driven by a greasy middle aged man, was quite the feat.

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D. Vito pulled out into the street, but he continued to eye her in the mirror. "So which Christmas party acquires such fancy-smancy attire, bub? Where are ya going!"

"Hotel Security!" Mina said with a big grin.

D. Vito's bushy grey eyebrows nearly lifted off his head. "Dat place?! Are you kiddin' me, pally? You're really going there?"

"I got invited to visit the penthouse!" Mina said, "And yes, I may shop and accessorize on a budget, but apparently, I'm high class enough to be invited to the new mayor's inauguration!"

"Do you know much about dat place?" D. Vito rasped.

"Other than ritzy rich people and movers and money shakers all stay there when they visit Cali?"

"Well, jus' a warning pal," D. Vito said. "An take it from me when I was a big shot lawyer. Hotel Security is a place dat can make you or break you. Wit the kind of bizness deals dat go down, and da casino as big as a mini mall, people either climb to da farthest rung of da social ladder or they leave without the shirt on their backs!"

Mina's eyes widened. She never even heard about these kind of dealings even in the tabloids. "Luckily, I'm just going here for a party. I don't even know if I'm old enough to gamble!"

"You're always too old to gamble," D. Vito said, gazing forlornly into the glass. "But don't let dis geezer ruin your time! Oh look, we're already here!"

Mina gazed out the window and was immediately starstruck. Hotel Security stood proudly in the distance. It was separated by three enormous segments--one for the casino, which rivaled the massive parking lot in size, one for the fancy cuisine restaurants and the third and center segment that housed the rooms. In giant flashing neon red and yellow letters, the sign on the top of the building read, "Hotel Security: Safest and Ritziest Hotel In America!"

"I wouldn't believe dat," D Vito said as he looked out the window.

"Why not?" Mina asked.

"Why don't you take a look at dat poor man on the street over there."

Mina squinted her eyes, then swooned and gasped, "Oh my lawdy!"

It was the former mayor, Monty Banks standing by the front gate. He was pleading to come back into building. It wasn't his actions that made her gawk, but rather his outfit. Lacking his typical eye gouging yellow suit, Mr. Banks wore nothing but a barrel with suspenders.

"I tell ya kid," D. Vito said, wiping the nervous sweat off his forehead. "Dis place may seem a barrel o' laughs, but it ain't...pardon my pun!"