Waiting for a Blink
There was an entourage yonder, a crowd around a small man; peculiarly similar to a great hero I had once forgotten. Between the banisters, through the stairs he was led down to the table where the game of Bingo was at the height of the wagers enlightened scribbles. He waited for the slots to be set and then he casually looked up at me and blinked. The casino, its foyer and the entire awestruck audience came closer to see one of the fastest ever player of Bingo on the verge of becoming the most silent achiever. The five cross five grids of the electronically marked cards set its stride with the first call of a ‘cup of tea’. ‘Three’ was marked and the caller broadened his pace to set loose the ground beneath the players’ feet. Then it was time for a ‘Dirty Gertie’, ‘Two Dozens’ and a ‘Sweet Sixteen’. Our hero looked at me, blinked again and went on with the strides that the casino had in store for him.
Breaking the silence
People, amazed, stared as if hearing from the missal; they might have wished hard that, an online slot of the same game would have vented them of half the pressure this game of likelihoods had in the offing. They were indeed familiar with online Bingo, a game that had the same chance and excitement they had longed for. Here, however, Bingo was being played for the rest to see, the risk was being weighed for the rest to carry and people were staring hard at our hero to bring in a starter of delicacies. And then the silence, which brimmed with cogitation, was at the threshold of a break up. The caller this time aimed for the ‘key of the door’. Lo and behold, our friend the hero cried out, Bingo!
Doubts jettisoned
My eyes were set on him from the beginning till the call defied the stilted ambience of the crowded casino; from the time the slots were ready to be played to the end when he went home victorious. I was a troubled man from the start, penny after penny had come and gone through this hand and yet till the time I was inspired hard by this unknown adventurer, I never had a chance to take part in the live action that the game of Bingo had in store. That night I slept amidst slots, words ringed through my trance, sometimes a ‘Bulls Eye’ and at times a ‘Chicken Legs’. I turned around a thousand times; the grandeur of the casino lighted my eyes, there was no more time to hesitate. Half way down my sleep I was thus jolted up, half way down the corridor I was thrilled by the jostled crowd and for the first time I jettisoned my doubts; what concocted was a Bingo that rang at my ears from within the same cord.
