Kentucky

i find myself in a small town outside of Salt Lake City an hour towards Las Vegas and surprisingly on our trip we stopped at a Jack in the Box for lunch and i ordered a Swiss cheese and meat sandwich with small curly fries and J. got a cheddar cheese and meat Arby’s special

after eating J. went to the washroom and i read a Mormon newspaper editorial stating we shouldn’t be entertaining ourselves when America faces many dire situations…like Lady Gaga and manufacturing jobs leaving the country…i think u know what i  mean…

I hear a voice in my head which isn’t unusual                                                    but this time they’re talking about horse racing                                                  and that happens from time to time but not recently

so I'm a little surprised and look across at a TV                                                   and there is a baseball game in motion.

earlier that day in LV      i had made a bet on the Kentucky Derby on a horse called “Animal Kingdom” 50  to win 50 to place and he drew out of the 16th hole so i wasn’t expecting much

but a writer from the New York Times picked him and the article was well written and the logic reasonable and later i read his  times were good and though he had never run on dirt he still had a chance…then the jockey who was suppose to be on him got hurt and the top horse got scratched so the top jockey got called and i kind of though well maybe i do have a chance…

and the voices in  my head are sounding more and more like the start of the race and i’m thinking my psychic skills usually aren’t this good so i put down the Mormon paper and look up and there is a TV above and horses are entering the gate and it is the race…and again i’m not expecting much and J returns and i say the race is about to begin and she looks at the TV and says did you bet and i say of course…

and the race has started and twenty horses all run tightly together and on the small screen you can’t tell what is what and at the end a horse breaks out of the pack and win easily…

and J says number four won and that the jockey looks like a woman…and this is the first time in Kentucky history that a woman jockey has won  the race and i’m happy for her and woman everywhere and her name is Rosie and Kentucky derby is called “ run for the roses” so it seems fitting and well the media can have another carrot to stick up their ass and get excited for twenty minutes…

Then i squint my eyes and look closer at the screen and i am not at Jack In the Box I am at Arby’s and the “Animal Kingdom” is being flashed on the screen and i start dancing around the empty Arby’s sing I won i won I won and J say no you didn’t and i say yes i did though i’m not really sure…

so i check my ticket and stand on the  table and check the small TV in a small town in Utah in an empty Arby’s and sure enough the God’s are good and J says ur very lucky and i keep dancing…

a 2 dollar ticket pays 43 win and 19 to place so i do the math

25X43 equals 1075          25X19 equals 480  

15 hundred to the good  so on a 100 dollar bet i make the above which ain’t bad for a degenerate gambler who doesn’t have kids who’s on his way to visit the Mormons…

Later in the weekend                                                                                               i lose my basketball bet                                                                                        but over all i\m up $1400                                                                                  which isn’t a million dollars                                                                                  but in a life devoid of meaning

it creased a smile                                                                                                  on my handsome face.