Constantine
Abridged version of Chapter 2
“My unfulfilled dreams…”
These two people were destined to meet one day, and each of them then put this meeting in one of the distant corners of their memory, without thinking much about the meaning and significance, although they still had to remember it, but... only after many years of successful career growth for one and painful wanderings for the other.
And between these two milestones, measuring one of the segments of my life's path, there was a huge space, predetermined by some unknown Higher powers, perceived from the heights of philosophical postulates as the forces of Good and Evil. But no one ever knows - on which side will the balance be. And what in life one wants most of all - is also an eternal question for any person, because the road seems to be one, but there are an infinite number of nooks and crannies on it. And just walking in a straight line and looking around - this is only for the idle-curious and wanting a lot of everything at once ...
1
I don’t remember exactly when it all started, although… If we talk about early childhood, then it was something like this…
Two school idiots put the same number of coins in someone's handful and shake them in all directions, holding them with the other palm, as if performing some kind of magic ritual, and then one of them hits the handful with his hand and shouts loudly: "Stop! Heads!" (or tails). And then the one performing this ringing ritual squeezes his palms and slowly opens the coins, shining with a mysterious shine, lying on the palm either on one side or the other, after which it becomes clear what was guessed and what was not. When the balance is equal, everything starts over again and usually ends only when the money migrates from one of the players to the pocket of the other. And the other one can calmly turn around and go his own way - usually to the school buffet to enjoy a hearty fragrant "poppy seed cake" or a tasty basket, washing it all down with a packet of fresh cream ...
But what happened to me much later, somewhere in the early 2000s, turned into a macro-shake of such coins, and, as you understand, of a completely different denomination.
2
On an ordinary spring morning, I, with a leather folder under my arm, where the treasured agreement for my first fee lay, I did not go... No-o-o! I flew on the wings of my dream, because in my pocket a brand new wad of bills was crunching - my first advance for the sound/tracks for a short series accepted by the director, and the prospect of cooperation with this private film studio promised even greater earnings, and in general... Life went uphill sharply!
At least, that's what I thought, not noticing anyone around me, until I suddenly bumped shoulder to shoulder with some guy. Apologizing on the go, I would have rushed on, but suddenly I heard a strangely familiar shout: "Fuck, yo! Are you getting carried away with sprinting down Nevsky?!"
I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks and, turning around sharply, saw my childhood friend Vitka.
- Vitek! Oh my! Damn, this is just fucking awesome!
Rushing towards each other, we embraced each other in friendly hugs, and then, as expected, we went to celebrate this event, especially since we hadn’t seen each other for about 20 years.
Having sat down at a cozy corner table in one of the cafes, we called over a Chaldean and ordered expensive cognac, coffee, lemons, chocolate... I don't even remember what else, but I remember well that Vitka paid for all this chic! Wow! And at school, by the way, everyone considered him a tightwad. He didn't even play "shake", which almost all the school kids were into, for 10 kopecks. He was always saving, saving up for something, but it seems he never really bought anything. In short, that's not even the point. When Vitka pulled his battered wallet out of his pocket, I almost fell off my chair. What was my pack of royalties! They were just candy wrappers compared to Vitka's money!
Vitka, of course, noticed my glassy gaze and smiled.
- What, Pakha, haven't seen that much at once?
- No, why... I saw it and held it in my hands, but like this, in my pocket...
In principle, as it turned out later, it wasn’t that much – about 150 thousand, although at that time, a little more than 5 thousand bucks was pretty cool for me and many other ordinary people!
Then we slowly wandered along Nevsky, reached Petrogradka, chatting about this and that, but suddenly Vitka froze in place, staring at some advertising line running with lights with a huge, star-shaped logo and a blue-neon inscription “VOLCANO”.
I don't want to say that I was a total layman. No. I had heard a lot. Like, there is a single jack/pot system, there is eternal twilight and time flies unnoticed, the best dreams come true there, but also cars, cottages, apartments and even your own worthless lives are lost there in one night, but... I understood that this was not the school "shaking" during recess in the toilet, so I carefully avoided such establishments. But it was hard to believe that Vitka would have such an interest! And Vitka, meanwhile, burst out.
- Pah, look! I withdrew a ton of money in a similar gaming hall on Vyborgskaya the day before yesterday!
Vitka proudly slapped his pocket with his wallet and winked cheerfully. Seeing my slight confusion, Vitka slapped me on the shoulder, as if pushing me towards the gaming room, and said: “Shall we go in? Just for 5-10 minutes! I’ll show you something, we’ll grab a freebie! There’s coffee, tea, vodka for free! And anyway, you won’t have time to get bored. If you don’t like it, we’ll leave. Well?”
How can you refuse your best childhood friend? Of course, we went in. And of course, having seen the inner splendor of the huge hall with monitors shimmering with some kind of fairy-tale light and wall screens with incomprehensibly growing electronic numbers with the inscription "jackpot"; having heard all this musical pun, occasionally interrupted by loud bells of big wins, enthusiastic voices of players, smiling managers, pretty cashiers behind glass partitions, scurrying waitresses with trays and God knows what else, from which you suddenly wanted to just stay and watch the continuation of this gaming madness...
3
Vitka, without thinking, jumped up to some machine with pictures of monkeys and banana bushes, sat down, pulled out a 1000 bill and stuck it into some glowing slot, after which 5 drums with some symbols, inscriptions with credits and balance lit up, and large, square buttons began to wink - like, hit me, hit-hit-hit! And Vitka began to hit. And so deliciously, with his tongue hanging out and eyes glowing with excitement. Soon funny, jumping monkeys fell out (as it turned out later, a "bonus game"), and Vitka began to feel the ropes from which bananas rained down on the unfortunate monkey in the helmet, but then two bricks fell, and Vitka sighed sadly: "Didn't get through, the bastard." Where it was supposed to go, I found out much later, and at that moment I somehow didn’t care and even felt a little bored. Seeing my sad look, Vitka jumped off the leather stool, put a sign on the screen saying “busy” and led me into the depths of the hall. There I saw huge machines with large screens and a strange sign “Gaminator”. I also thought to myself – well, these are just some kind of terminators)). Having seated me at one of them, Vitka took out a 1000-dollar bill (which again surprised me unusually), put it in the same glowing slot and began to show the principle of the game. There were several games - some balls with a smiling girl, mysterious books with a cowboy in a hat, ships with sails, but what attracted me most were the pictures with big, shiny dollars, stern bankers, fat wallets... In general, my first debut took place on this game.
My first bet was relatively small – 9 rubles. Of course, I played like an amateur, on all 9 lines, without fully understanding the meaning of switching lines and doubling, tripling, etc. The symbols flashed before my eyes, the balance increased and then fell, and periodically two dollars popped up (scatters, as it turned out later). When two scatters appeared, the sound was: "Ten-den, ten-den, ten-den." And then suddenly, quite unexpectedly, in increasing tones: "Ten-den-dzi-i-yin!" Then a short but pleasant major melody was heard, after which my first bonus game began. It wound up quite well – 872 rubles. I turned to Vitka to brag, but Vitka was not up to me. He, surrounded by several other visitors, was heatedly discussing some passage there - whether it would be or not. Apparently, this passage did not give him any peace, since the blows on the glowing buttons became stronger and stronger.
I turned back to my "gamminator" and, gently stroking the glass, continued the game again, doubling the bet, because during the game a smiling, long-legged waitress came up to me with a tray on which 40-gram shot glasses with free potion stood in a row, and while I was swallowing the free vodka, as if unconsciously commented in a low voice: "And you can increase the bet here. Did you know?" With her elegant, manicured, sharp fingernail she poked at the "bet" button, after which the bet became not 9, but 18, which surprised me greatly. Having quickly doubled the previous win in my head, I figured - why not take a risk? Especially in the plus. Especially since the money is not mine! And off we go...
4
Wallets, dollars, bankers, other insignificant symbols, scatters, scatters, more scatters flashed before my eyes, but always two and two, two and two, two and two... Damn gold bucks! Where are the three, where-e-e?!!! They disappeared somewhere, hid, the bastards, mocking me and, probably, somewhere in the depths of the reels laughing at me. So take it! For 45! Like this! Bang!!! "Ten-den-dzi-i-yin!" Phew-u-u, finally. Having quickly multiplied the expected winnings by 5 and multiplied them by three (already like a seasoned gambler), I began to look through the bonus, rubbing my sweaty palms from excitement. And then... Then it turned out that after 15 spins the winnings were even smaller than then at 9 rubles. "You're a fucking bitch!" I slammed my fist on the edge of the device. The security guard immediately jumped up, gave me a warning, advised me to smoke and drink some free coffee. Then he looked at me again with a searching gaze and, turning on his heels, quietly disappeared into the semi-darkness of cigarette smoke, excitement and gambling passions...
I breathed a sigh of relief, felt the sign under the device that said "Busy", put it on the screen and went to Vitka, and there... Holy shit! There were about 10 people crowded around Vitka, scanning in unison:
- Come on, bro, come on!
- Finish him off!
- He's going to spit now!
- He'll spit, for sure!
And Vitka "squeezed" 225 (max/beta). One after another, thousand-dollar bills disappeared into the green mouth of this glutton with mad monkeys in banana bushes, but three monkeys at the same time did not want to reunite and take Vitka to banana paradise. 4 hits - a thousand, another 4 - another one. God, how much did he stuff in there?!
While I was calculating Vitka's losses in my head, the blows suddenly stopped and the crowd began to disperse. Vitka tiredly slid off the high stool and finally saw me.
- Pah, do you have any money?
Well, can I really say "no"? Although it's such a pity... After all, it's my own hard-earned money, especially my FIRST royalties! That's how I should be, in theory...
“Of course there is!” I dispelled Vitka’s panic and, rummaging in my pocket, pulled out a thousand-ruble note.
“Is there anything else left?” Vitka said, as if guilty.
- Don't worry... Another grand and then we'll go home. Okay?
Vitka shook his head and immediately sat back down, staring at his killer monkeys. Well, I returned to my also insatiable bankers and began to fish out another three gold bucks. About an hour passed like this.
5
My first, very first fee in my life melted away and melted away. I immediately imagined what I could buy with it. Well, for example, a gorgeous gift for my mother - one. A good microphone for a synthesizer - two. A leather jacket, the dream of my life (!) - three! To finally go to the floating restaurant "Brigantine" with Tanyukha - four. To get drunk as hell on French cognac - five. Or just, damn it, to lay out the bills on the table and say with pride - this is my hard-earned, blood-earned and inalienable wealth, which I will spend wherever I want!!!
And now what? Now I won't spend anything, because I have one piece left. One thousandth piece of paper, which is unlikely to solve my pressing problems and my now unfulfilled dreams...
I waved my hand and inserted my last bill. The saccharine banker looked at me from the monitor and was even a little stern. Fucking oligarch! Give me my money back, you bastard, give it back! And I'll never come near you again in my life! Live happily ever after with your Scatters and bucks, I don't want to see you again! I'll just spin the 9 rubles another fifty times, and then I'll withdraw the rest - at least enough for vodka and a box of chocolates to give to my mother, and to get home in a car.
Vitka distracted me from my bitter thoughts. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I turned to face him, leaning my right hand on the device and pressing my head to my palm, not even imagining the subsequent events that would later turn my whole life upside down.
6
Leaning my elbow against the button panel, I listened to Vitka’s monologue.
- Pakh, come on, don't push it too hard... I got so lucky yesterday at Vyborgskaya! The monkeys gave me a pass three times on max-bet! And it was pouring in anyway... And now you see... They must have screwed something up... Bastards... I take it you're also on your last leg?
The question sounded rhetorical, so instead of answering, for some reason I reminisced about my childhood, when Vitka almost dragged me out of the toilet by force, so that I wouldn’t lose my last 20 kopecks in the shaking. And I scolded him then, saying that he was a tightwad, and that he couldn’t understand that you can win 10 of these two tsariki in a minute! And that’s two rubles! Two whole rubles! Here’s your ice cream, here’s your favorite chebureki, and here’s a pack of Rodopi with a long filter! But Vitka was always principled back then. And now… What has changed now? And why didn’t I drag him away from the machine today, but instead sat down to play myself?!
At that moment, some poor guy with a sad face and drunken eyes was passing by. Stopping near us, he suddenly asked in a quiet, defeated voice: “Guys, can you help me out with a stokha, huh? Until tomorrow, by God! I’ve wasted everything! I’d like to have enough for at least a pack of cigarettes and a minibus ride…”
Vitka looked at him angrily and muttered that he had to work, after which he gently pushed the poor guy in the chest, but he suddenly swayed and fell on me. I instinctively covered my head and leaned over a little, hitting the buttons of the device with my right elbow. That was the end of the incident, because a couple of seconds later one of the security guards jumped up and dragged the poor guy to the exit. I calmly turned around and automatically hit the "Play" button with my palm, but suddenly saw s-s-s-s!...
And Vitka saw it too! And he grabbed his head! But – it was too late. The thing is that during a short scuffle I hit the max/bet button with my right elbow! And the 9 bet turned into a 900 bet! But no one noticed! And Vitka and I simultaneously realized that this was the last thousand we had at our disposal! And now it’s all over! It’s all over!!! We are the same poor fellows as the one who was recently thrown out of the casino! We are beggars…
As if in slow motion, the reels started spinning, and there was no stopping them. And as if in slow motion, suddenly there was a "ten-zen" sound... Two scatters, damn it! Phew, I already have 1800! And there is hope for a win, and the last grand can be saved. But then the fifth reel started spinning and fell into the right, upper corner of the screen... the third scatter - "dzi-i-yin"... The bell of a big win rang out, then a familiar melody from the game, which became almost native, and it began!!!
…In those heydays of the gaming business with “Gamminators”, few people dared to slap on 900. It’s not that they didn’t have enough money, they simply didn’t believe in mega-returns. They usually said: “Well, there’s also 135, 180, it can do something, but 900! No way! They’re all rigged! Are they really going to give away the money for free?!” Of course, there were different rumors – someone took a couple of lemons near the train station, and on Pl. Muzhestva, near the metro, they hit a jackpot of over 3 million, and so on.
Therefore, if they played at Igrosoft for 225, then it was still acceptable, but for them to play at Gamminator for 900...
And back in those days, when someone’s machine started ringing frequently in the gaming halls, almost all the players would come running to see with their own eyes and remember what this fiend of hell, popularly known as the “one-armed bandit,” could sometimes produce.
7
The manager was the first to jump up to me and froze like a stone, his eyes bulging at the machine's screen, where after each spin a piercing ringing of another big win was heard. The winning figure grew before the eyes of the amazed visitors, who also ran to this spectacle. Even the waitresses froze, stretching their long necks over the heads of the crowded gamblers. Meanwhile, there was... oh God!!! There was an increasing "ten-den-dzi-yin... pzi-i-innnnn!!!". Four scatters fell during the bonus game! And immediately another 54 thousand was added to the winnings! And it was already more than 300-ot, because solid wallets, dollars, rows of kings and other things were pouring out, ringing and frightening at the same time with their power and pressure. “No-o, this is definitely a Terminator,” I barely had time to think, when suddenly “ten-den-ji-i-yin”!
Another 15 games! 45 games at 900 with a triple! The crowd cheered. The manager continued to stand there like a stone with his mouth open. Vitka grabbed my shoulders with his hands and with each ring of the machine he seemed to press me deeper and deeper, moving his lips: “Another 24, another 54, 18,500, 36,200, another 20…”
The apotheosis of the game was 4 bankers - the most powerful symbols in this game. 750,000 fell down and rang-e-e-e, so much so that I myself stopped realizing that all this was happening HERE, NOW and TO ME! The result of this crazy bonus game was the sum of 1 million 327 thousand 800 rubles!!!
Vitka immediately pressed the drain button, beating me to it, but the manager beat everyone else to it. After the drain, he suddenly stretched out his hand and pressed "out". A red squid lit up on the screen, inside which the entire balance amount was displayed, and the manager immediately explained: "This is how it's supposed to be, you understand? We record large wins of 250 thousand and above, especially since with mega/wins our techie programmer comes and tests the device. This is to verify the authenticity of the win. But don't worry! This is a completely normal check of the game history - that's all!"
Vitka and I exchanged confused glances, probably thinking the same thing – they wanted to screw us over. The manager smiled sheepishly and unexpectedly invited us to the bar:
- Our casino has a special gift for you! A bottle of French champagne and a box of fancy chocolates. Go to that girl over there, don't be shy. You can wait there until the testing is over.
I looked again at the screen with the still unconscious winning figure and, sighing sadly, headed to the counter, where champagne with two glasses, an unopened box of chocolates, an ashtray and other attributes of a bar feast for players were already on display.
Vitka and I sat down on high stools with leather seats behind the bar. The barmaid, smiling sweetly, put a gift in front of us - an unopened bottle of champagne, but I nervously moved it aside and asked for an expensive French cognac "Camus" two for a hundred - for myself and Vitka. My body was shaking with a small, nasty tremor, and I couldn't get that incomprehensible phrase from the chief manager out of my head: "We need to test the story of your large bonus." What kind of story? What the hell?!!! I already mentally hated this computer programmer who hadn't shown up yet; probably puny, short and certainly with big glasses on his long nose. He could give such a summary - that, supposedly, there was a glitch in the program or algorithms, or who the hell knows what! And I... Me-e-e-e!!! I'll just tear him to shreds if he says that and the winnings go to that fucking Vulcan! Yes, I... I...
Vitka tugged at my jacket sleeve so hard that I almost fell off the stool.
- Hey, Kamchataka! Hala-bala! Chi-chi ha-ga!
Vitka waved his hand in front of my face, raised his glass and drank it in one gulp, exhaling loudly before and after. I also took the glass with a trembling hand and began to slowly sip, trying to drive away the pernicious thoughts. So we sat in silence for about 30-40 minutes, smoking one cigarette after another. Finally, I saw that some kind of fuss was going on around - security guards were straightening their ties, managers were frozen in some kind of anticipation, waitresses pressed themselves against the walls and stared with frozen gazes at the central entrance. The doors opened silently, and a large man of clearly Georgian descent tumbled into the hall, followed by an equally tall, intelligent-looking young man in glasses and with a black briefcase in his hand. They quickly, as if not noticing anyone, walked towards the cash register and disappeared behind the service doors. Soon that same glav ran up there. the manager also disappeared from sight.
8
And he came, this bespectacled techie with a laptop under his arm. He quickly went up to the machine, connected something there, poked something, and for the first time I learned what a “game history” is. All my 45 bonus rounds flashed before my eyes again and I had to experience that strange feeling again that all this was not happening to me, but to someone else, because this simply CANNOT happen to me!!!
…An hour later, Vitka and I were riding in a taxi, not saying a word. I periodically felt my side pocket with a thick wad of bills. Not all of them, of course, but only one third of the winnings, since after completing all the necessary formalities, they explained to me that especially large winnings are issued within 3 days, and even showed me the rules. But they also gave me a coupon for the remaining amount, respectively, by presenting it along with my passport to the cashier, I could take the remaining money. Rather, this was calculated on the fact that the player would not be able to resist and would definitely try to win again. Yes, perhaps, but this should not have happened to me. After all, I was once again dreaming about what kind of gift I would buy for my mother, what kind of leather jacket, and now, maybe, I will also buy a raincoat for myself, how I will buy not just a microphone, but a new synthesizer with a good acoustic system, buy a used foreign car from a neighbor - there was a conversation. And then in this foreign car and with Tanyukha to "Brigantina"! And I'll invite Vitka and Svetka! And...
I suddenly remembered that when I was leaving, one of the security guards (according to the casino rules, when a player won big, two guards escorted him to a taxi) had put a business card in his pocket, which I had immediately forgotten about. Taking it out now, I began to read the name of some gaming association, "Conti Entertainment Group" (in English, of course). On the back was a phone number and a note in pen: "Be sure to call! You'll be interested."
And what does fate have in store for me this time?...
But that's a completely different story...
EPILOGUE
Today, the whole hostel celebrated the New Year 2018. And what about me? I'm a homeless person. Here I rent a bed for a relatively small fee. My only treasure is an expensive laptop. My whole life is in it now. My finances, my victories and my defeats are in it. My friends and enemies, my thoughts and my feelings are in it. My usual casino atmosphere is in it...
And in it are my unfulfilled dreams, and also TTR's blog, which I often browse, albeit without comments. After all, now I'm just a gambling addict who believed in the illusory happiness - Mega-jackpot)))....
“I am in the desert - a lonely wanderer.
Proud, restless and angry,
I keep digging a ghostly well
With clean, spring water…”
If you bet on red in a casino and you're stubbornly unlucky, try betting on red!