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Instead of previewing the beginning of the story, I'm going to show you a big scene from one that should be posted sometime next week...

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Vegas hotels were so big. The night prior, the McDaniels stayed at a Hampton Inn, where the elevators, breakfast area, front desk, and parking lot were all about ten steps from each other. But this time when Isaac got off the elevator, he had a three minute walk to just reach the lobby, and another minute to walk through it and into the casino area.

He walked in wide-eyed, suddenly surrounded by fuzzy green tables and a haze of smoke. The action was more subdued than earlier in the evening, but there was still plenty to see: flashes of neon, stabs of sudden noise, and the most diverse array of people Isaac had ever seen. Some were done up to the nines and ready for a night out, others looked like they hadn’t showered for a week.

There were no barricades to surpass, but Isaac still felt like he was breaking a shield as he walked off the lobby tile and stepped onto the soft carpet that marked the beginning of the casino area. He’d entered another world, one with fluorescent skies and questionable morals. But how would he ever heal the world if he didn’t know what it needed healing from? This was research. He couldn’t be ignorant to what people enjoyed if he was ever going to witness to them.

In one corner of the floor, away from the majority of the people, was a slot machine with angel wings jutting out of the back of it. Those attracted Isaac’s attention, and he got a few steps closer before seeing the top of the machine sported devil horns. The screen said “ON YOUR SHOULDER” and flashed between a tiny angel on one side of a man’s shoulder, and a tiny devil on the other. “ARE YOU GOOD OR BAD?”

No one was looking.

No one would see…

Isaac put in fifty cents and pulled the lever. His hand almost slipped off the knob because of the sweat in his palm.

The machine played the sound of an angel choir interlaid with an evil laugh, as the three wheels spun hypnotically before Isaac’s eyes. He couldn’t believe he’d actually gambled, but his guilt was eased by the fact that it didn’t give him any sort of rush. Plus he didn’t have more coins, so this was the end. Just a small experiment.

The third reel stopped first. It said ‘JACKPOT.’ Isaac’s breath stopped for a few seconds, until the second reel stopped and didn’t match. It read, ‘BOY.’

“Huh,” Isaac muttered.

Then the first reel stopped.

‘BAD.’

“Bad Boy Jackpot,” Isaac said. He looked down to check if a fountain of coins were being expelled from the machine, but there was no activity of any kind. Either it was a jackpot with no prize, or he hadn’t won. He assumed it was the latter, though the devil horns on top were strobing red, which was kind of cool.

When a tall, fat man in a black suit appeared next to the machine, Isaac wondered if the guy was here to give him winnings - until he saw the man’s scowl. “You’re not old enough to play this,” the guy snarled.

Isaac shrank back when he saw the man’s had a name tag pinned to his jacket - ‘D. SOARES, Security.’ “Sorry, I’ll go,” he said meekly, turning to speed walk out of there.

“No you won’t. You broke the law. Let me see your ID.”

The law...he’d broken the law?! Oh crap...oh CRAP...Isaac could barely get his driver’s license out because his hands were shaking so badly. As he handed it to the man, he imagined himself behind bars.

The man looked at the license with a furrowed expression. “You’re 21?” He stared at Isaac, then back at the license. “Shit, you don’t look 21.”

Isaac didn’t answer for fear of saying something wrong. He just took his ID back while the man mumbled an apology. “Sorry about that. But damn, you don’t look 21.”

“It’s okay,” Isaac squeaked out, and the man left him alone. Isaac collapsed against a table, clutching his heart in relief. “Thank you God,” he whispered. A miracle had been performed, and because of it, Isaac knew he wasn’t doing the wrong thing. If God was mad that Isaac was at a casino, He would’ve let Isaac get in trouble, no question. Instead, He’d made the man read Isaac’s age as 21, even when it was clearly-

Isaac blinked as he looked at his license in his hand. Picture was right. Name was right. Address was right. But the birthday... It really did say he was 21. The man hadn’t misread the ID; the ID was wrong. And somehow Isaac never noticed they’d messed up his birthday at the DMV.

He put his license away right as he heard a female voice ask, “You playing?” Isaac turned to see an Asian woman and three middle aged men looking at him, and he realized he’d fallen against some kind of gambling thing. He’d played Blackjack on his computer a few times, before his parents realized it had come with the computer and uninstalled it. But this didn’t look like Blackjack. He just didn’t know what it was.

“Are you playing, sir?” the dealer asked again, and being called ‘sir’ sent a chill up Isaac’s spine. He didn’t want to say no after that showing of respect.

“Uh, sure, but I don’t know how.”

“Just bet the Pass Line,” one of the men said.

So Isaac did. He took a ten dollar bill out of his wallet and placed it on the pass line, his second bet of the night. He didn’t know what he was doing, or even how he could potentially win, but when the dealer rolled the dice and the men all cheered, he had a feeling he’d won again. He couldn’t believe it! And this time it came with real money, his ten dollars becoming twenty. He bet again, and once more the men cheered. He’d turned ten bucks into forty in the blink of an eye, and his whole body was tingling with excitement.

“Those are my first wins!” Isaac said excitedly to the man next to him, a short, bald guy whose bright red polo shirt and round face made him look somewhat like Santa Claus.

“No kiddin’!” The man smiled and clapped his hand on Isaac’s back. “That calls for a cigar!”

“Oh, I don’t-” Isaac started to say, but the man produced a little brown tube from his pants pocket and slapped it into Isaac’s palm. “I don’t smoke,” Isaac said.

“Psh, it’s barely smoking. You don’t even inhale, you just enjoy the flavors. It’s not like a cigarette. Don’t be worried by all those scary ads they used to show ya in school, those are about cigarettes.” The man took the tiny cigar and raised it to Isaac’s mouth, and Isaac hesitantly let him place it between his lips.

“Is smoking actually allowed in here?” Isaac asked, not wanting to get in trouble again. The cigar bobbed up and down as he spoke out of the side of his mouth.

“Of course it is, kid! It’s Vegas!” The man raised a lighter and before Isaac knew it, the tip of the cigar was smoldering. “Now don’t give me that scared Boy Scout look,” the guy laughed. “This is called a petit corona, it’s barely a cigar at all. You might as well be suckin’ on a lollipop.”

That made Isaac feel better, so he took in a breath and held down a cough. The flavors were there, but so mild they were hard to describe, aside from the odd sensation of suddenly smelling the woods. Isaac’s hand visibly trembled as he removed the cigar from his mouth and expelled a little plume of smoke.

“Name’s Roy, by the way.”

“I’m Isaac.”

“A good Christian name for a good Christian boy,” Roy smiled.

“How’d you know I was a Christian?”

“Because you look like a scared, lost little mouse in here,” Roy laughed. “Don’t worry kid, my wife and I go to church too. You ain’t going to hell for smoking one of those.”

That made Isaac feel better, although he hated being described that way, accurate as he knew it was. “Well…” he said, rolling the little cigar between his fingers like he did his pencil during English class, “I do...I do kinda like it.”

“Kinda?!” Roy teased.

“I like it, how’s that?” Isaac smiled, putting the cigar back between his lips. It felt heavier, suddenly. “Just don’t let my parents see.”

“Your parents?! You gotta be 21 to be in here, so I’d hope you weren’t worried about them.” Roy took a drag off his own cigar. “I’m gonna grab a drink, c’mon, let’s get you one too.”