The estimated flying time to Atlantic City was eighty-five minutes in the Bonanza1, which was exactly thirty-five minutes faster than the Cessna Ray had been renting. Early Saturday morning he and Fog did a thorough preflight under the intrusive2 and often obnoxious3 supervision4 of Dick Docker and Charlie Yates, who walked around the Bonanza with their tall Styrofoam cups of bad coffee as if they were flying instead of just watching. They had no students that morning, but the gossip around the airport was that Ray was buying the Bonanza and they had to see things for themselves. Hangar gossip was as reliable as coffee shop rumors5.
"How much does he want now?" Docker asked in the general direction of Fog Newton, who was crouched6 under a wing draining a fuel sump, checking for water and dirt in the tanks.
"He's down to four-ten," Fog said, with an air of importance because he was in charge of this flight, not them.
"Still too high," Yates said.
"You gonna make an offer?" Docker said to Ray.
"Mind your own business," Ray shot back without looking. He was checking the engine oil.
"This is our business," Yates said, and they all laughed.
In spite of the unsolicited help, the preflight was completed without a problem. Fog climbed in first and buckled7 himself into the left seat. Ray followed in the right, and when he pulled the door hard and latched8 it and put on the headset he knew he had found the perfect flying machine. The two-hundred-horsepower engine started smoothly9. Fog slowly went through the gauges10, instruments, and radios, and when they finished a pre-takeoff checklist he called the tower. He would get it airborne, then turn it over to Ray.
The wind was light and the clouds were high and scattered11, almost a perfect day for flying. They lifted off the runway at seventy miles per hour, retracted12 the landing gear, and climbed eight hundred feet per minute until they reached their assigned cruising altitude of six thousand feet. By then, Ray had the controls and Fog was explaining the autopilot, the radar13 weather, the traffic collision avoidance system. "She's loaded," Fog said more than once.
Fog had flown Marine14 fighters for one career, but for the past ten years he'd been relegated15 to the little Cessnas in which he'd taught Ray and a thousand others to fly. A Bonanza was the Porsche of single engines, and Fog was delighted for the rare chance to fly one. The route assigned by air traffic control took them just south and east of Washington, away from the busy airspace around Dulles and Reagan National. Thirty miles away and more than a mile up, they could see the dome16 of the Capitol, then they were over the Chesapeake with the skyline of Baltimore in the distance. The bay was beautiful, but the inside of the airplane was far more interesting. Ray was flying it himself without the help of the autopilot. He maintained a course, kept the assigned altitude, talked to Washington control, and listened to Fog chat incessantly17 about the performance ratings and features of the Bonanza. :
Both pilots wanted the flight to last for hours, but Atlantic City was soon ahead. Ray descended18 to four thousand feet, then to three thousand, and then switched to the approach frequency. With the runway in sight, Fog took the controls and they glided19 to a soft touchdown. Taxiing to the general aviation ramp20, they passed two rows of small Cessnas and Ray couldn't help but think that those days were behind him. Pilots were always searching for the next plane, and Ray had found his.
FOG'S FAVORITE casino was the Rio, on the boardwalk with several others. They agreed to meet for lunch in a second-floor cafeteria, then quickly lost each other. Each wanted to keep his gambling21 private. Ray wandered among the slots and scoped out the tables. It was Saturday and the Rio was busy. He circled around and eased up on the poker22 tables. Fog was in a crowd around a table, lost in his cards with a stack of chips under his hands.
Ray had five thousand dollars in his pocket - fifty of the hundred-dollar bills picked at random23 from the stash24 he'd hauled back from Clanton. His only goal that day was to drop the money in the casinos along the boardwalk and make certain it was not counterfeit25, not marked, not traceable in any way. After his visit to Tunica last Monday night, he was fairly certain the money was for real.
Now he almost hoped it was marked. If so, then maybe the FBI would track him down and tell him where the money came from. He'd done nothing wrong. The guilty party was dead. Bring on the feds.
He found an empty chair at a blackjack table and laid five bills down for chips. "Greens," he said like a veteran gambler.
"Changing five hundred," the dealer26 said, barely looking up.
"Change it," came the reply from a pit boss. The tables were busy. Slots were ringing in the background. A crap game was hot off in the distance, men were yelling at the dice27.
The dealer picked up the bills as Ray froze for a second. The other players watched with detached admiration28. All were playing five- and ten-dollar chips. Amateurs.
The dealer stuffed the Judge's bills, all perfectly29 valid30, into the money box and counted twenty twenty-five-dollar green chips for Ray, who lost half of them in the first fifteen minutes and left to find some ice cream. Down two hundred fifty and not the least bit worried about it.
He ventured near the crap tables and watched the confusion. He could not imagine his father mastering such a complicated game. Where did one learn to shoot dice in Ford31 County, Mississippi?
According to a thin little gambling guide he'd picked up in a bookstore, a basic wager32 is a come-bet, and when he mustered33 the courage he wedged his way between two other gamblers and placed the remaining ten chips on the pass line. The dice rolled twelve, the money was scraped away by the dealer, and Ray left the Rio to visit the Princess next door.
Inside, the casinos were all the same. Old folks staring hopelessly at the slots. Just enough coins rattling34 in the trays to keep them hooked. Blackjack tables crowded with subdued35 players slugging free beer and whiskey. Serious gamblers packed around the crap tables hollering at the dice. A few Asians playing roulette. Cocktail36 waitresses in silly costumes showing skin and hauling drinks.
He picked out a blackjack table and repeated the procedure. His next five bills passed the dealer's inspection37. Ray bet a hundred dollars on the first hand, but instead of quickly losing his money, he began winning.
He had too much untested cash in his pocket to waste time accumulating chips, so when he'd doubled his money, he pulled out ten more bills and asked for hundred-dollar chips. The dealer informed the pit boss, who offered a gapped smile, and said, "Good luck." An hour later, he left the table with twenty-two chips.
Next on his tour was the Forum38, an older-looking establishment with an odor of stale cigarette smoke partially39 masked by cheap disinfectant. The crowd was older too because, as he soon realized, the Forum's specialty40 was quarter slots and those over sixty-five got a free breakfast, lunch, or dinner, take your pick. The cocktail waitresses were on the downhill side of forty and had given up the notion of showing flesh. They hustled41 about in what appeared to be track suits with matching sneakers.
The limit at blackjack was ten dollars a hand. The dealer hesitated when he saw Ray's cash hit the table, and he held the first bill up to the light as if he'd finally caught a counterfeiter42. The pit boss inspected it too, and Ray was rehearsing his lines about procuring43 that particular bill down the street at the Rio. "Cash it," said the pit boss, and the moment passed. He lost three hundred dollars in an hour.
FOG CLAIMED to be breaking the casino when they met for a quick sandwich. Ray was down a hundred dollars, but like all gamblers lied and said he was up slightly. They agreed to leave at 5 P.M. and fly back to Charlottesville.
The last of Ray's cash was converted to chips at a fifty-dollar table in Canyon44 Casino, the newest of those on the boardwalk. He played for a while but soon grew tired of cards and went to the sports bar, where he sipped45 a soda46 and watched boxing from Vegas. The five thousand he brought to Atlantic City had been thoroughly47 flushed through the system. He would leave with forty-seven hundred, and a wide trail. He had been filmed and photographed in seven casinos. At two of them he had filled in paperwork when cashing in chips at the cashiers' windows. At two others he had used his credit cards to make small withdrawals48, just to leave more evidence behind.
If the Judge's cash was traceable, then they would know who he was and where to find him.
Fog was quiet as they rode back to the airport. His luck had turned south during the afternoon. "Lost a couple hundred," he finally admitted, but his demeanor49 suggested he'd lost much more.
"You?" he asked.
"I had a good afternoon," Ray said. "Won enough to pay for the charter."
"That's not bad."
"Don't suppose I could pay for it in cash, could I?"
"Cash is still legal," Fog said, perking50 up a bit.
"Then cash it is."
During the preflight, Fog asked if Ray wanted to fly in the left seat. "We'll call it a lesson," he said. The prospect51 of a cash transaction had raised his spirits.
Behind two commuter52 flights, Ray taxied the Bonanza into position and waited for traffic to clear. Under the close eye of Fog, he began the takeoff roll, accelerated to seventy miles per hour, then lifted smoothly into the air. The turbocharged engine seemed twice as powerful as the Cessna's. They climbed with little effort to seventy-five hundred feet and were soon on top of the world.
DICK DOCKER was napping in the Cockpit when Ray and Fog walked in to log the trip and turn in headsets. He jumped to attention and made his way to the counter. "Didn't expect you back so soon," he mumbled53, half-asleep, as he pulled paperwork from a drawer.
"We broke the casino," Ray said.
Fog had disappeared down into the study room of the flight school.
"Gee54, I never heard that before."
Ray was flipping55 through the logbook.
"You paying now?" Dick asked, scribbling56 numbers.
"Yes, and I want the cash discount."
"Didn't know we had one."
"You do now. It's ten percent."
"We can do that. Yep, it's the old cash discount." He figured again, then said, "Total's thirteen hundred and twenty bucks57."
Ray was counting money from his wad of bills. "I don't carry twenties. Here's thirteen." As Dick was recounting the money, he said, "Some guy came poking58 around today, said he wanted to take lessons and somehow your name came up."
"Who was he?"
"Never saw him before."
"Why was my name used?"
"It was kinda weird59. I was giving him the spiel about costs and such, and out of the blue he asked if you owned an airplane. Said he knew you from someplace."
Ray had both hands on the counter. "Did you get his name?"
"I asked. Dolph something or other, wasn't real clear. Started acting60 suspicious and finally left. I watched him. He stopped by your car in the parking lot, walked around it like he might break in or something, then left. You know a Dolph?"
"I've never known a Dolph."
"Me neither. I've never heard of a Dolph. Like I said, it was weird."
"What'd he look like?"
"Fiftyish, small, thin, head full of gray hair slicked back, dark eyes like a Greek or something, used-car-salesman type, pointed-toe boots."
Ray was shaking his head. Not a clue.
"Why didn't you just shoot him?" Ray asked.
"Thought he was a customer."
"Since when are you nice to your customers?"
"You buying the Bonanza?"
"Nope. Just dreaming."
Fog was back and they congratulated each other on a wonderful trip, promised to do it again, the usual. Driving away, Ray watched every car and every turn.
They were following him.
收听单词发音 |
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bonanza
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| n.富矿带，幸运，带来好运的事 | |
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intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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latched
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| v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上） | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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gauges
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| n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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retracted
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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radar
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| n.雷达，无线电探测器 | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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ramp
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| n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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stash
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| v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所；n.隐藏处 | |
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counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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specialty
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| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
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hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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counterfeiter
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| n.伪造者 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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48
withdrawals
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| n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻 | |
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demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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perking
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| （使）活跃( perk的现在分词 )； （使）增值； 使更有趣 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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commuter
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| n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者 | |
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mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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flipping
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| 讨厌之极的 | |
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scribbling
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| n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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