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July 28 Mr. Hermit - Underground casino operator?Remember that guy I talked about in my last blog post? The guy that's a usual regular at my IHOP and seemed kind of seedy? Well he is seedy. He helps operate at this underground casino not so far away from downtown.
Ok, so I was working my morning shift last Saturday. Very busy since it's morning, and it's a weekend. Now another one of those businessmen (I think that's what they are) is chatting up with him. But this time, it was different. They seemed to be arguing over something. Mr. Hermit raises his voice and said, "Hey! A deal is a deal! You give us the space, and I set it up..." I guess I came too close, because he eyed me with those piercing silver eyes, and asked for more coffee. Work called back for me, and the two men left together.
I needed to follow them. See what they were up to. "Hey Luann! I'm taking my break now. I'll be back in about 15". I whipped off my apron, and sped after them.
I tried to follow close behind without being spotted. Luckily, it was only 2 blocks before they stopped in front of this business. "Lamar's Imports". Funny how's their a CLOSED sign on the door, and the blades sewn shut, as they do this fancy rap on the door, hold up 4 fingers, and the door opens to let them in. Obviously, something is up.
 I go around the side to see if there's an entrance. Then the alleyway, but the door is lock shut, and I don't have a disguise. There is a basement window though. I peeked in, and my jaw dropped as I saw what was inside. It was like a casino in there. Slot machines rolling and clacking. Roulette and craps table under smoky green glass plated lights. And all that.
Gambling in California is ILLEGAL. No wonder the "store" was closed. It's just a front for the casino underground. As I fished out my cell to call the cops, two big thugs come around the side. With dogs. Mean, growling Dobermen. "Oh, oh", I thought. Maybe it wasn't best to call right now. I took off quick. I ran block after block, until I arrived at the IHOP on Main Street.
"There you are! You took a LONG time. Hurry up and get in your uniform" cried Luann. Her uniform was coated with bits of food, and her hair was dripping with OJ. I got in quick, and finished my shift. Then I called the cops. The chief seemed incredulous at first, but I convinced him after a minute or two with my powers of persuasion.
 I arrived at Lamar's Imports just in time to see the cops go in. Five minutes later, they return to their cars and head off. Nobody arrested. No evidence taken up. Nothing. "Is there something wrong?" I asked one of the cops nearby.
"Naw. We had a false alarm. Somebody claimed there was an underground casino, but all I saw was a dank basement. And a slow imports shop. No casinos here."
I guess the thugs must have gotten worried, that they shut down the casino fast. Super fast. It'd been only an hour and a half, but they were already gone. I know for sure, I saw what I saw. These guys are good. Good at running an underground casino. I was about to kick a light pole, when I noticed a scrap of paper on the ground. Enough to see that scrawled on it were : "Tuesd...new locatio...-05, Pinemont Ave." If my hunch is right, I discovered the underground casino's new operation location. Well I discovered what street it was on anyway.
I'll definitely be on the lookout. Maybe my best friend Marissa can help out. July 21 Finished the Nancy Drew game, working over at IHOPYes! I finished the Nancy Drew game! For the most part, it was actually easy. There was this hard part involving dancing and pressing the buttons in tunes with the sounds/colors fast. I had to have this friend help me (thanks, Dot!
), and then there was this part that involved a three-well system, walkway bridges that came up with the water flow in each well, and I had to figure out how to get from the first well, all the way to the diamond well. Where the stash was hidden. You had to determine when and what point you should either drain/fill a particular well, where there were tons of wheels to turn from, 3 floor levels, and it so confusing.I had to use a cheat. Or I'd probably not have figured it out. It really helped, and I got out of the game.
There was also this Italian mini-game (within the game) called Scopa. It's an Italian card game, with a stand Italian 40-card deck. Commonly two players. Each person gets three cards. And there's at least 4 cards in the center of the table, face up. The goal of the game is to pull as many cards as you, mainly the highest suit (gold coins), the 7 of coins (highest value card), or the most cards. You can pull cards from the center of the table, if you have card that matches in value, or the sum of the numeral cards in the center, equal your numeral card in your hand. If you can't, discard a card. But make sure it won't give the other player an advantage.
Highest suits are:
You want to get these value cards in this order : 7, 6, 1 (ace), 5, 4, 3, 2, and then K, Q, 10, 9, 8, all the others...
If you pull the last card in the center of the table, you get a "scopa".
After a whole deck is gone through, you count up the points. Here's where you can earn a point:
It goes on until one person gets 11 points. It's actually kinda fun. But in the game, the man wins a lot. He always get the best cards. So I recently got a small summer job at IHOP. I work on the wait staff, and serve people their orders. Boring. But IHOP makes awesome food, so it's not that bad. I even get an employee discount. I get paid $7.75 an hour. Pretty good, I think. Most of the patrons are friendly. I only hope I don't see anybody I know. It'd be kinda embarrassing. There is this weird guy though. Always sits in the dark corner. He always wears a Dodgers cap, dark coat (in the summer?) and jeans. He's middle-aged, with dark brown hair, and piercing gray eyes. I'd say he was kinda handsome, if he weren't always frowning. Comes here every 2 days, at 8:00 AM, and orders the exact same thing : Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity and a regular coffee. Sometimes he has somebody visit him at his booth. It's usually a business guy and he show some charts, docs, or whatever. He doesn't talk much to me. Just mumbles what he wants (the same meal), and eats and leaves. I try to strike a conversation with him, try to get to know his name, but he's mum. Oh well. I don't know why, but I can't help but think about Mr. Hermit. There's something strange, but I can't figure it out. So yeah, I got a new job, and I'm good so far! July 13 Got my latest Nancy Drew gameI got the latest Nancy Drew game : The Phantom of Venice
I've really been getting into mystery games. It's like a whole different world, even though there are limitations. There are points where you can die in the game, but it's at least better than dying in a real mystery case.
So anyways, Nancy Drew is working undercover to find a pair of art thieves. The thieves wear masks and costumes, and considering it's Carnivale season in Venice, he's not that conspicuous. And it also turns out one of the thieves lives right in the palazzo where Nancy is staying. So it's up to Nancy to go about Venice and try to find the bad guys.
There's often a lot of errand-running around (where you might discover a clue or something bizarre), and that ties into the story. You also learn some neat things, and kind of experience the theme of the particular mystery. It almost feels real in way. I learned some neat Italian words and customs already. You can even travel by gondola and hear the boatmen singing! I'm only half-way there, and I'm quite sure I'll solve it.
 July 09 How my Independe Day wentI know I'm a bit late in writing this up, but I had a great Independence Day. I woke up a bit earlier than usual to go see the Independence Day festival hosted every year. It's not really that big, but it's at least something. They even handed out miniature flags! However, Heather Acosta had to stop by. Anyways, there she stood sneering over at me. I'm going, "Back off, Heather". Her perfume was so strong, that it could make flies drop. She gives me The Eye, and bad-mouths my choice of dress. Then she made some remark about Casey and I (which I do NOT want to repeat), but it involves me and him together. BTW: Me and Casey are friends. NOT lovers. Just pretty tight friends, sometimes. In a way. I guess. She was about to take a fist at me, but I ducked, and she hit the brick wall of the building behind me. Ouch. She got real red, muttered something and went off to heal her hand. Serves her right. Afterwards, we had a great BBQ at Hudson's. Corn on the cob, steaks, lemonade, cake, all the good stuff. It was delicious. I was so full. Holly suggest we lie on the grass and watch the clouds fly by. We tried spotting some shapes in the cloud, but as usual, the clouds rarely ever have any cool shapes. I heard a sound near the fence, and went over to check it out. It was Casey. Heather's very cute brother. "Hey Sammy. Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to talk." "Oh, hey Casey. I don't mind having a quick chat. What's up?" "Well I wanted to say sorry for Heather bothering you again. I saw you guys at the parade, and I just laughed when she threw her fist at the wall like that. She put some bandages around it, and is going around like she got seriously wounded by 'the likes of you'." "Oh brother. She needs to get a life. How's your 4th of July?" "Great. Me and the guys are going to shoot some fireworks later, over by Mission Hill. You want to come?" "I wish, but I promised Grams that I'd shoot fireworks with her and Hudson. And Holly, Marissa, and Dot of course." "That's all right. Well, see you later" And I just stood staring at my shoes most of the time. I really like Casey I guess, but somehow I don't. I don't know. It's just confusing. So the day went by, and it was a blast shooting fireworks into the sky. As I drew out a red sparkler, into the cool night air, I could see something in the bright red in the distance. At first I thought it was just my sparkler effecting my eyes, but it was actually out south. It said Sammy. I realized, that somehow, Casey managed to get the fireworks to spell my name (he's a whiz with gadgets) and I could see my name fading into the dark sky, being replaced with pink exploding hearts. That was just amazing. I won't forget that night. July 02 Can't wait for July 4thIndependence Day is coming soon. I can't wait! BBQ's, fireworks, and the whole sha-bang. Marissa, Holly, Dot, and I are planning to go with some of the guys and launch some firecrackers just outside Santa Martina. Grams got a bit testy when I told her, but she agreed that I'm getting older enough to take care of myself. I mean, I can control myself, right?
Hudson invited Grams and me over to a BBQ, and my friends could come too. I love Independence Day. It feels great to be liberated from English rule. Not that I lived through it, but I'm glad we're Americans, and not English.
Dorito has been the same. Lounging at the sunny spot on the floor.
I've been playing some softball in the last few weeks, so I didn't have time to go online a lot to update this blog. Softball can be a real strenuous work-out. I really hate it when acerbic sand gets into my mouth. When you're playing real hard, you can forget to close your mouth a bit. Silly, but I do that a lot.
So until Independence Day comes, I'm just going to be doing the same ol', same ol'. |
. But if you pay real attention, and stay determine, you can beat him. The game was fun. I learned lots of cool Italian stuff, like the colors, I got to take a (virtual) gondola ride, and it was very intriguing. A good game if you love mysteries.
It was pretty nice. I watched the parade with my friends.
She gave me her usual evil look. Doesn't she have anything else to do besides bothering me? She's probably just jealous as usual. So I'm watching the parade when I feel this tap on my shoulder. At first, I thought it was Dot, and told her to wait until the parade ended, but I got a punch next. I spun around and there stood Miss Evil. She was dressed in some fancy-shmancy dress with patriotic colors in varying streams wrapping around her like a snake. I didn't feel like wearing anything that patriotic. I love the fact that the U.S. won it's independence from the English in 1776, but I my dress style doesn't have to match my excitement. I put on an American flag pin (courtesy of the Bank of America float 
) over my Linkin Park top, and wore some jeans as well. Jeans are American, right? Or maybe they're Italian. I think I saw something about that in this amazing facts book.
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