Chance

Largo Bender has a population of exactly 427, not counting the occasional truck driver. Everyone knows each other by name, first love, and favorite beer.

The most colorful is Grandpa Sammy, the owner of the Clean Deal Laundromat. He's nearly eighty, always wearing a plaid shirt and bow tie. Every evening, he sits on the porch with a plastic cup and gossips with a cactus. He says he remembers how Chance's casino was built and still calls him "boy."

The Martinez sisters, Maggie and Rosa, run a 24-hour diner called Two Widows'. They're twins, but Rosa only speaks in a whisper, while Maggie yells at the top of her lungs. Their apple pie is even praised by the neighborhood. Chance sends them flowers every Saturday, though they say it's pointless: "We're widows, honey, not fools."

Father Diego is the local priest, who smokes in the sacristy and plays blackjack on Fridays at the Amber Eye. He loses exactly ten dollars, then orders a milkshake and lectures Chance ("You are incorrigible, my son"), and Chance slips his winning chip into his cassock. Diego pretends not to notice.

Benny the mailman is the only one in town who's afraid of Elliot. Because Elliot once noticed that Benny was delivering the papers two hours late, and now, every time Benny's bike creaks near the trailer, he hunches his shoulders and whispers, "Not that look."

Then there's Miranda, the sheriff, who sleeps in her car half her shift because there's nothing worth stealing in Largo Bender. She's friends with Chance and turns a blind eye to his little after-midnight casino outings. In return, he always buys her a free coffee at the bar.

And of course, there's old Maisie, who lives in the farthest house and never speaks to anyone. They say she's seen a ghost in the cemetery outside of town. Chance brings her doughnuts every Sunday, leaves them at the door, and runs away. Maisie then throws them at the birds, because she really only likes black bread.

Everyone in Largo Bender has their own little wars, secrets, and squabbles, but as soon as a stranger arrives in town, they're all together.

Elliot lives in a trailer behind the Cheese Alliance pizza place. This magnificent thing is called the Azure Trailer, though the only azure is the faded lettering on the side. The trailer sits on concrete blocks in the middle of a vacant lot, next to a single, stunted tree to which Elliot has tied an old swing ("for aesthetics").

The interior is immaculately tidy, because Elliot hates clutter. The bed is made with military precision, on the desk sits a neat stack of economics books (he secretly dreams of opening his own bakery) and a potted cactus named Larry. There are no photos of Chance on the walls, except for one: the two of them on the opening day of Amber Eye, and Chance pouring champagne on Elliot.

The fridge is always stocked with pizza ingredients: dough, sauce, three kinds of cheese. Elliot doesn't trust his morning shift worker, so he makes everything himself. The shower is a cramped stall with barely any room to turn around, but he's hung his iPod there and listens to old jazz. A battered exercise bike sits in the corner, drying his uniform.

The key detail: hidden under the bed is a box of cash, which Elliot is saving for a down payment on a place. Chance, of course, has offered to lend him the money ("without interest, Ellie, how much longer"), but Elliot always replies, "I'll do it myself. And don't you dare slip chips into my bag; I'm checking anyway."

The trailer windows look directly onto the casino's back entrance. Every night, Elliot watches the light burn in Chance's window, sighs, adjusts the blanket on his lap, and falls asleep to the sound of the Amber Eye jackpot. And he never moves, even though Chance has offered him a room a hundred times. Because Elliot is stubborn. And because it's a two-minute walk to work.

Chance lives directly above his casino, the Amber Eye. Not in a penthouse with a helipad—no, that would be too ostentatious, even for him. His apartment is hidden behind an inconspicuous door at the end of the gaming floor, next to a soda machine. Elliot says it's "a brilliant marketing ploy: customers think you're working 24/7, but you're just too lazy to go home."

Inside, it's a happy man's mess. The huge bed is piled high with stuffed animals he's won at the faucet over the past ten years. On the walls are photos of old Vegas and one silly painting of a cat wearing a monocle ("Elliot got it for his birthday, now it hangs in a place of honor").

The floor is littered with chips that have fallen out of pockets. In the corner is a rack with ten identical black fedoras and a drawer full of sunglasses for every occasion. His bathtub is round and sits in the middle of the living room, because "why not?" The kitchen is bare except for a coffee machine, a toaster, and the ever-present box of Elliot's pizza (today's is pineapple, which Chance hates but hates to throw away).

The balcony overlooks a sign with an amber eye. Chance often sits there in a hat and robe, drinking whiskey, waving at passersby at two in the morning. Elliot sleeps on his couch at least three nights a week because his radiator is broken, and Chance simply doesn't call a plumber: "Why bother? Let Elliot be there. And bring pizza."

The town is called Largo Bender. It's a tiny place in the Nevada desert, about an hour's drive from Las Vegas. It was named after an old legend about a card sharp who once won the entire main street in a poker game and, instead of taking the money, simply said, "Keep it, but name the town after me."

Largo Bender is one neon-lit street, a couple of 1950s-style motels, a 24-hour laundromat, and Chance's Casino, known locally as the Amber Eye. It's the largest building in town, but inside, it feels more like a friend's cozy living room than a gambling den: couches, old carpets, and the smell of caramel popcorn.

The pizzeria where Elliot works is called Cheese Alliance (Elliot came up with the name, Chance paid for the sign). It's a shabby but heartwarming corner joint. Elliot wears a silly cap with the logo on it and patiently takes orders from truck drivers and the occasional tourist who's taken a wrong turn.

The main attraction of Largo Bender are its two friends: Chance, who drives around town in an old Cadillac, wearing a hat and glasses, even at night, and Elliot, who brings him cold pizza right to the casino after his shift because "that idiot forgot dinner again." The town knows: if the lights are on and laughter is heard in the Amber Eye until dawn, it means Chance is once again convincing Elliot to play a hand of blackjack. And Elliot agrees. And loses again. But the pizza is always on the house.

Chance is the kind of guy who exudes old money and good humor, even if it's three in the morning. He has a deceptively stern appearance: his dark gray hair is always neatly combed, but one strand always manages to fall across his forehead when he laughs. His eyes are a rare amber yellow, like twenty-year-old whiskey, and there's always a twinkle in them. He wears sunglasses even indoors ("for the dramatic, dear"), and his favorite fedora fits him like it was born there.

He dresses like he's going to his own wedding: a black suit, a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, and a tie dangling somewhere in his jacket pocket. Cufflinks shaped like dice hang on his cuffs. His whole demeanor screams "billionaire," and his smile says, "Go ahead and steal my chip, and I'll pretend you didn't notice."

He owns an entire casino, and it's probably the worst possible investment, because Chance goes there himself as a regular gambler. The croupiers fear him and love him at the same time: he can lose a fortune, laughing loudly, and then immediately win at the next table, simply by playing the dice. He's not greedy, not mean—not at all. Wealth isn't armor for him, it's a toy. He's the kindest of men: if he sees someone lose their last, he'll quietly toss in some chips and pretend they made a mistake.

Elliot is his best friend. He constantly rolls his eyes at Chance's antics, and Chance just adjusts his hat and says, "Ellie, you just don't know how to have fun with dignity." They're like two kids: Chance drags his friend to play poker at three in the morning, and Elliot drags him back over breakfast. And Chance always gives in. After all, he has everything except the desire to be serious.