In the months to follow, Camden becomes a more sophisticated horse race bettor, so he feels like he can keep his losses to a minimum. For the time being, his long-run losses aren't big enough to worry his wife, so he could maintain the charade.
However, he feels like the more often he bets, the more he feels unsatisfied with his experience as a gambler. Especially not since, during finals week, the morning announcement on Monday morning is delivered by Imélie:
"My name is Imélie, and I am committed to the Tulane Green Wave quiz bowl program!"
That was a foregone conclusion. There was no mistaking it. She feels like her extracurricular record was too spotty for Ivies, but there's only about 4-6 kids, on average, who get 31+ on the ACT in any given year here. I guess William didn't get into his first choice, and neither did Vontae or Sapphire. These 3 will be for whom I will live for at work right until Ivy Day, he muses while he waits on the students, mostly juniors and seniors, whose appointments take place during that time. Students whose finals aren't scheduled for a first period Monday.
Something is amiss, as exciting as a horse race can be, I can't do off-track betting from home without the family noticing! And, as much as I would like to use overtime, and what I used the overtime for, as an excuse to cover for when I go to the racetrack, I can't claim to be working overtime all the time! Camden feels like one bad move can get him into trouble. Unless... someone else could go to the casino with me, and then I could taste the thrill of gambling at a much faster pace than that of a horse race! Because, as exciting as on-track betting on horse racing is, off-track doesn't feel the same to me, and a betting cycle lasts for about 25 minutes.
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Just as lunch begins, he sits at the faculty lounge (after all, as counselor, he teaches career development; however, career development is a pass/fail course) and he starts talking about his plans for the holidays. As do other teachers; one wanted to go to Chicago, another one had other travel plans...
"To start the holidays, I want to go to the casino" Camden answers a fellow teacher's question.
"Why go to the casino? What can a casino provide that a racetrack couldn't?" Glen, the principal, asks him, unfamiliar with gambling facilities in this region.
"Table play. I went to a casino a couple years ago, but I never actually played"
Last time I went to the races, I lost $75 out of my budget of $100. Then again, I knew next to nothing about horse racing, Glen reflects on his last experience of gambling with Camden right before the finals season.
"I hope you can keep your gambling in check" Glen makes his wish.
"While I might have lost some money lately, my losses are still under control"
"Just make sure you stick to your budget" the principal warns him. "We'll leave at five PM and get to the casino, just tell me where to go"
"I'd say Coushatta, in Kinder"
Over the semester, I lost only $200, and I spent another $200 in meals at the races. So $400 is my budget for tonight, especially since tonight is not a night where I can wager on-track, Camden's thoughts race against the clock.
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When the next appointment comes for him, after lunch, a distraught Sapphire asks him for advice on where else to apply.
"I have been deferred from USC!" Sapphire comes to him, crying because she was deferred from it in early action.
"It's not the end of the world, it's ok to aim high, you're one of the few in the class for whom it makes sense to aim as high as you did" Camden tries to comfort her.
"My boyfriend made me apply to all his non-reaches, not realizing that some of these are reaches for me..."
Who's Sapphire's boyfriend, William or Vontae? The kids never told me who their love interests are. However, these two are the only possible boyfriends she could have: there might be another kid in the top-5% who can realistically attend USC, but Vontae and William are the only 2 people for whom their non-reaches could be reaches to anyone else, Camden is left wondering who Sapphire dates.
"Relying on getting into USC in regular decision is a gamble. And really, several of the other schools you applied to as well. It might sound a bit cliché, but you need to ensure that you could see yourself happy attending one of your non-reach schools, and that you can afford it. Don't be shy about applying to reaches: sometimes schools with high admissions standards are also more affordable than their tuitions could suggest. Really, any out-of-state private school short of an Ivy or equivalent is fair game" Camden advises her.
"Could you please give me an example of non-reach school that I could afford?" Sapphire asks him, confused about suggestions given by teachers all over the place this semester.
"Trinity College. While it might be a school where about half the student body pays full freight, the other half have it good, maybe even better than at LSU for some, might want to add Conn as well. They're similar in a lot of respects. A little small perhaps"
Oh my god, the AP French teacher suggested it to me! I'm at 3.65/32, 3.95 weighted, I did theater, I played DI at debate-State twice, student newspaper, theater and a bunch of smaller stuff, I can credibly attend, he said, Sapphire has a memory of a question she asked the AP French teacher after class surface in her mind. I may as well apply there...
"It seems like we're going in circles!" the girl keeps crying.
"I'm willing to help you get into college, to accomplish your dreams, and often a collegiate identity will be cherished for life, or at least until you earn an advanced degree. It's more than just an education, or a career stepping stone. It's ok not to know what you want going in, after all, that's why so many colleges don't ask you to declare a major on the application"
Now, Sapphire must play with the hand the past 3 and 1/2 years dealt her. She has only a few weeks to write as many essays as she needs to. She's gambling all right, but so are the other two. The higher up you go, the more it feels like you gamble, Camden realizes that he is grooming the top students into gambling. Why is it that I am seeing gambling everywhere these days? Why is it that I can't wait a few more days, for the next day at the races? Why did I tell people at lunch that I planned on going to the casino tonight, with the principal of all people?
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
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A few hours later, at Coushatta Casino, the counselor texts his wife: "I'm at happy hour with my coworkers" My $400 budget for tonight includes whatever drinks I drink here, so if I want to drink alcohol, I must do so early in this trip! If possible, for free, but doing it for free requires playing some first, or so I heard about how that worked at a casino, he has a lot on his mind, while he gets his comp card along with some $5 and $10 tokens for him to start getting a taste for the various tables. Just not for the full $400.
Excited to play new games, he learns about the rules of each game table that piques his interest before choosing a table. Far from him being a card shark, he starts with the simplest game, roulette...
Meanwhile, at the family home, Brittany, prompted by the kids, starts wondering what could possibly have changed in the past few months. It has become more disturbing...
"Where's daddy?" Jacob asks Brittany.
"Mom, why is dad away from home more often?" Myriam asks her mother.
"I'm sure he had his reasons. He's probably taking on more responsibility at work. After all, it's finals season, the other teachers are going to be busy, and he's going to be as stressed as they are" Brittany explains to the kids, while they are about to eat dinner. "Dinner time!"
"I guess, he needs to relax at some point!" Myriam adds.
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But back at the casino, their father starts the night by betting $5 on the first 12 spins, not winning any of these. Going into the thirteenth spin, he starts wondering how he should adjust his betting strategy, knowing that he's down $60 and he feels the need to earn it back. And maybe earn back the $200 he lost at horse races during the semester, if he got lucky.
Now I have a better idea of the odds these 3 kids are facing to their first choices. Yet, I can't just play it safe, I can't climb my way out of this hole if I don't increase my bets, and fast! Camden's thoughts start racing, while the string of losses he incurred in the first 12 spins make him squirm.
"Place your bets!" the dealer signals to the players to start betting.
That signal sends shivers down his spine, feeling forced to commit $10 or more to the next spin. As the clock ticks in on him, he feels pressured to make a two-step choice before the roulette is spun.
I feel that this spin of the roulette should be able to make back the $60 I lost and then some. I MUST pick a number and fast! Camden then reluctantly places a $10 bet, as he is the last in order of making them.
"Ten dollars on number twenty-three!" he shouts, with the dealer placing the $10 chip on number 23.
The spin begins as the dealer drops the ball in the opposite direction. He watches furiously as the ball slows down, fingers crossed. Said ball still rolls when it closes in on the #23 slot, but... Almost there... almost there! An excited Camden starts thinking about where the white ball is about to land.
But his hopes are dashed when the ball lands on the slot right next to #23, #4. Ouch. I lost for a thirteenth time in a row! Hopefully this one is going to win! I'm still within my budget, but I'm not here just to break even on a semester of gambling. However, when I see other players place their bets, I'm reminded of my own students. And myself in a way, too. It's as if an application was a bet on a roulette to those kids I'm reminded of. A match can be an "even money" bet, a high match (the height of a match refers to the odds of rejection) would be like a column bet, and a reach is any other bet, he ruminates while his turn comes to place his bet. I lost 13 times in a row, I am down $70, may as well bet more than the previous times. You don't win anything without risking anything here. I know it's risky but I don't have a choice.
"Twenty dollars on the zero" Camden announces, while the dealer places the chips on the table.
Galvanized by the prospect of not only earning back the $200 of losses he took on wagering on horse racing this semester, but also the $200 he spent on food at the races, once again, he is reminded of how he basically encouraged some of the strongest Venomous Agendas to gamble their future away. Especially William, and Sapphire for gender balance, even though Sapphire has much worse grades.
Once again, he goes into the spin with his fingers crossed. He harbors hopes that his luck will turn around at some point. All it takes is one win. One win! Then I can go play another game for all I care, Camden feels his blood boiling as he tries to resist his frustration at his string of losses. And his face is about to turn red as the roulette slows down.
All players end up crossing their respective fingers. And watch the ball bounce towards its final destination. The green 0 space.
"Yes! Finally! My luck has turned around!" an ecstatic Camden shouts across the table, while collecting $700 worth of chips.
"Good on you, Camden; maybe we should eat then..." Glen invites him to eat.
So, thus far, I earned back everything I lost all semester, today included. I spent $90 to get to where I am now, I made back the $200 in food bought at the races, plus the $200 I lost playing at the races. This leaves me $210 ahead, which I plan on using to eat, and the rest will be my remaining budget for the night, he thinks while he's handed a shooter-sized serving of alcohol by the pit boss.
"I want to eat what I never seem able to at home" Camden feels hungry for Asian food. "Noodles then"
After eating pho, he cashes in $490, made of $10 and costlier chips, and asks to have the remaining $10 chips changed to $5 ones, so that he could have the remaining $190 last him longer on the gambling floor.
"You really ought to read horror stories about problem gambling and teach about the dangers of gambling!" Glen warns Camden before he hits the other gambling tables.
"It would probably be more appropriate for an algebra teacher to teach about the dangers of gambling than for me, a guidance counselor doubling as a career development teacher"
"Addictions spare no one. You're headed down a dangerous path. First, betting on horse racing, now roulette!" Glen scolds Camden before sending him a horror story about gambling addiction via mobile.
For the rest of the night, Camden keeps playing mostly table games, and, unlike roulette, here he doesn't seem to be losing, much less winning, with any consistency. Yet he doesn't seem to be playing any given game for very long. I hate blackjack because the stakes are too tightly controlled, they make me think of people who aren't quite good enough to be drawn to the lure of out-of-state colleges, and would happily attend LSU or Louisiana Tech. The other three games I played tonight carry higher risks but also higher rewards. Craps is not for me either, he reflects on his experience of the casino while he tallies what tokens he has left.
Out of his post-dinner $190 budget, he somehow manages not to lose everything, even after playing right until midnight. And the signal for him to stop playing comes when he receives a text message from Brittany: "Honey, why aren't you home yet?"
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So it turns out that, for the entire year, he only made a paltry $65 of profit from gambling. Which is the total value of his remaining chips. Upon returning home half an hour later, he returns home to a red-faced Brittany.
"Honey, why didn't you respond?" Brittany yells at him, awakening the kids in the process.
"I was the designated driver, I couldn't text and drive, I had to stay longer than I would have liked!" Camden tries to explain himself.
"You're setting a poor example for the kids!"
"Being a designated driver ensured my coworkers' safety!"
"But the kids need you when they are dealing with their own finals!"
A red-eyed Myriam then leaves her bedroom to confront her parents arguing about why dad returned late from this happy hour.
"I think it's happening more often that you come home this late because of work functions! What's the meaning of this?" Brittany asks.
"Yeah, you tell us about needing sleep, but you awaken us for no reason!" Myriam adds fuel to the fire.
"I didn't do it on purpose!" Camden pleads.
I must keep quiet about gambling, especially since I had nothing to show either way. I'll pay the credit card bill before going to sleep. However, I'm tired of semi-lying; what is it going to be if I need to tell a bigger lie to keep gambling later down the road? Camden then makes his credit card payment on mobile.