shit. dewars and a diet coke. please.
hi. uh.
yeah, bernie. hey, you seen shelly around? he promised to position me at the tables tonight. i've been on skid row all week.
no? you sure? fuck.  and i was way under. it's been, like, an a.a. convention the whole week. i'll make up for it tonight. promise.
thanks.
this is you, right?
joe said i should stick around. you say something to shelly?
wow. that was fast. hey, thanks.
seven and seven?
oh shit.  sorry.  i'm such a klutz.
sorry, this guy.  fuckin' hands, you know.
buy you a drink?
your progressed venus is gemini, 12.5 degrees, and is in direct motion. which tells me that you're a slow starter when it comes to romance. you know what? this is real unprofessional of me. i shouldn't discuss your chart with you until i'm all done. i can tell by that look, you think this is all a lot of
the outcome? there's not, like, one particular outcome. a lot of things enter into it. the planets, moon phases.
god, i have never met anyone who was so down on themselves. i used to be down on myself, ok? i don't go there anymore. i've got just three more correspondence classes with this stuff, then i'll have my certificate and everything. and you know how i got ok?
yes, as a matter of fact that is perfectly correct.
i asked around. you're a "cooler." you turn winners into losers.
i know there's stuff that goes on in casinos all the time --
that sounds to me like a self fulfilling prophecy. there's a whole chapter on that in my course. anyways, i can see a big factor in your life is that you're lacking companionship. there's nobody to deflect off. if you've got, as you put it, bad karma, then you need someone with good karma to neutralize it. well, that's my take on it anyway.
i have this recurring dream where i'm on some beautiful island in the bahamas. i'm sitting on the beach, taking in this amazing sunset with one of these in my hand . and then it starts to rain. and i wake up and it's my roof leaking on me. yeah, i'm also real tired, bernie.
only five more days? then we shouldn't waste any more time.
why don't we go back to your place?
ah, just shut up, bernie. you haven't gone and cooled anything. not by a long shot.
you should complain about this.
nah. i've had my fill. go ahead.
you know, once they're dead, they don't really grow back. in case, that's what you're waiting for.
so.  got any music?
sit. relax. i promise you, at least one of us has done this before.
sssh. surprise me.
you're doing real good.
don't worry, bernie. i've had worse. we'll try again later.
hey, so, you wanna get some breakfast?
he did that to you? what, he shot you?
that's getting off easy?
but he maimed you.
jesus.  i thought stuff like that didn't happen no more. like that was just in the movies or something.
when was the last time you saw a doctor?
take care.
what?
what?
an easy mark?
you notice last night, that tattoo on my butt?
yeah, two twos. little joe.
i had a son. his name was joe. i was his mother for a year.
i want to, bernie. better you know the worst of me up front. later, when i'm already invested in you, it'll be too hard to come clean. after i tell you this, you'll probably.  i mean, i'll understand.
i gave my son up for adoption. i just wanted my life back. i was seventeen going on eighteen and i was selfish. my family, they didn't want to have nothing to do with me after that. so i hitched a ride out here. figured i could make it as a showgirl. ten years later.  i like to think that if it happened when i was older -- with some guy i cared about -- maybe things would have been different. i think about my little joe. and, i do know he's better off. i'm convinced of that.
how did you get in here?
bernie's looking for a parking space.
excuse me?
you missed some.
so where does that leave us?
god, bernie, that's.
bernie.  i want to be with you. i do. but i don't know if i can leave with you.
i was working on a compatibility chart for the two of us. and it looks good, really, it does.
that's with us here. in vegas.
maybe i was being presumptuous, 'cause i knew you were leaving.  and i tried working it in different ways.  it wasn't good, bernie. i got scared. but that's just for now, for the immediate future. once the planets realign, maybe a year from now.
why, bernie? we only got a couple days left together. why not make the most of them?
and that's so bad?
take care, bernie.
oh god.
bernie, it's a big world out there. if you just took off -- if we took off.
you awake, bernie?
i -- think i love you.
no, i don't think. i'm pretty certain of it.
you blind-sided me, bernie lootz. i never saw this coming. you shouldn't do that to a girl.
there's still things you don't know.  should know.  i don't want to ruin it.
say 'em anyway. to hell with rotten luck. that's overs.
sorry.
i don't understand.
i can't do that.
it wasn't an act. i meant it. i love him.
i thought you were his friend.
bernie? you awake?
let's just take off.
i mean it. let's just pack up and go. tonight.
fuck shelly. he doesn't give a shit about you. let's just climb into your car and get the hell out of here.
just hold me.
hey! ouch! what are you?
you got no fucking right!
i tried.  i couldn't.
i can't leave! i won't! i love him. doesn't that mean anything to you, you heartless fuck?
bernie would! i got friends! you don't fuckin' own me. you got no right --
fuck you!
no, don't. i've got a headache.
yeah. i already took something.
bernie, no! shit.
i love you, bernie. i just want you to know that. i fell in love with you. that wasn't part of the plan. i thought.  easy money.
shelly. he paid me to get next to you. to keep you around. whatever it took.
you got it right the first night. i was for sale. bought and paid for. you were the easy mark, bernie.
at first you were just another john. but then i started to take a closer look. for the first time, here was someone who wasn't trying to hustle me. wasn't pretending to be somebody he wasn't. just a decent guy trying to get back on track. and it didn't hurt any that you put me up on a pedestal. it sure puts the gutter into perspective.
shelly wants me gone. he says i bring you luck. lady luck. i stayed.  to tell you to your face.  and then you wouldn't want me no more.  and i could just go.
just tell me one thing, bernie. tell me there's gonna be a later.
tell me again, bernie. tell me it's all gonna be okay.
you don't have to do this, bernie.
bernie, your chart.  that first night. i wasn't being straight with you. it's the worst chart i've ever seen. there's nothing in the cards for you. i'm scared.
it's three thousand dollars. take it. maybe shelly'll accept it as a down payment. we can send him the rest in installments.  after we get settled.
take it.
i know, bernie.
i know.
thank god.  i thought for sure.
it's okay, right? you guys worked it out. he took the three grand? tell me it's okay, bernie?
what are you stopping for?
oh jesus, bernie, i knew it. it was too good to be true. who were we kidding?
don't give it a name, bernie. it scares me. all i know is, you're still running hot and that's a good thing. but we're only winners if we keep going. no looking back.