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“Ay, Luz...,” Camila whispered to herself, walking down the Las Vegas strip. “You’ve always managed to get yourself into so much trouble...”
She was waiting exactly where she had told Luz to meet her over their last payphone call so she could fly her and her... friend home to Gravesfield. Her daughter was running just a bit late, but that was normal before adding all the extra stimulus of Las Vegas.
“Maybe we should have picked a different meeting place,” Camila whispered to herself as she glanced down at her phone’s clock.
But something in the crowds caught her eye. A tall, dazed-looking man in colonial dress. Just like how Luz had described the man she was traveling with. And sure enough, when the crowds parted just a bit, she saw her daughter’s big bright eyes and waved to catch her attention.
Luz had a duffel bag over her shoulder. She waved back and hurried over with the man in tow. “Hi, Mom!” She said, keeping him close and the bag closer. “This is Philip. He’s, uh, having a hard time taking in so much information at once.”
Camila nodded along and forced a smile. “I see that.” She extended a hand to him. “I’m Camila Noceda. Thank you for watching Luz for me.”
He shook her hand, but she received no verbal response. He was too busy taking in all of the flashing lights on the strip.
“It was kind of the other way around, but that’s beside the point,” Luz said. “We need to go. Quickly, please.”
Camila placed a hand on her shoulder. “Our flight doesn’t leave for another eight hours, mija, why don’t we walk around for a bit? You’ve only got the one bag to check. We won’t be in the airport for long at all.”
Luz paled. “Yeah, about the bag...,” she said, looking down at it and opening the zipper just enough for her mother to take a peek at the contents. “Turns out I’m really good at underground blackjack.”
The bag looked like it contained at least ten thousand dollars in disheveled cash. Camila nearly fainted. “Why were you doing that?!” She yelped, clasping her hands over her mouth once she realized what she’d done.
“We don’t have a lot of money right now,” Luz hissed, gesturing to Philip still overwhelmed by the lights, colors, and crowds. “I put in, like, ten bucks, and then... Well...”
Camila took a deep breath. “Well, we can’t just get on a plane with all this money,” she said, zipping the bag closed and pulling the two of them along to keep attention away from them. “Do we just leave it on a street corner? I mean, I probably shouldn’t say that I’m proud of you for doing this, but, I’m kind of proud of you for doing that?”
Luz smiled half a grin with knitted brows. “Thanks?” She said, giggling quietly. “Well, if we wanna lose some cash fast, we are in Las Vegas.”
Camila hummed. “And I am very bad at poker. I see where you’re going with this.”