Robofootball: Doublespin

Bruno even gave him a big gold toothy grin that looked about as natural as a pit viper with a diamond fang, “Go right in,” Bruno said as a hand the size of a toilet seat pushed open the door, and then closed as Reynolds slipped in.

“Gabriel!” Dano Verlucci actually got up from his desk and gave him that big enthusiastic double kiss greeting that was usually reserved for family and the closest of friends or allies.

“Uncle Dano,” Reynolds acknowledged. He always felt awkward at these moments, just a little out of his comfort zone getting this close to another man. “Hey Uncle Sal,” Reynolds put a hand on the elderly man in the wheelchair with the ever-present oxygen tank. Uncle Sal was trying and straining to get up. “It’s okay,” added Reynolds, “Just sit down.”

“All right,” Uncle Sal wheezed and placed his hand on top of Reynolds’ that was still on his shoulder.

“Well, you did it, knocked off the Numbheads, goin’ to the show!” Uncle Dano led on.

“Yeah, it’s been tough.” Reynolds couldn’t quite recall when he had seen his uncle this happy, or show much in the way of emotion.

“Ya done good kid,” Sal jumped in.

“Bottom line is in the black, playoff bonuses and revenue, merchandise sales are off the roof, sellin’ those robot player dolls as fast as the chinks can make’m, and kids are buyin’ jerseys left and right, parents too.”

“So all the numbers came in okay?” Reynolds inquired.

“Damn right,” said Uncle Sal.

“That’s what that slimy little group of bean counters tell me,” Dano went on, “Damn CPA’s, only thing worse than those little worms are the lawyers. You spent a lot of green nephew, but you got it back, wasn’t sure you had it in you.”

“Bull shit,” said Uncle Sal, “He’s had it all along,” he added as he patted Reynolds’ thigh, “For a Mick anyhow.” They all laughed.

“You are aware that Uncle Sal has a lot of Vegas connections and we’ve done well on that front too. The spread for the Texas game sounds like it’s going to be around 7 to 10 points in their favor, probably start at 7 and go up after 90% of the country bets on Texas. I want to know if you can beat it.”

“It’s football,” said Reynolds, “It’s really not much different from when men played. You get injuries, fix them up, throw them back, and try to survive for another day.”

“That’s not what I asked,” said Uncle Dano in a somewhat kindly reasonable voice. He had already made it clear that the heat was off, mostly. He was just trying to cash in with him one more time, but not telling his nephew about the massively huge wager that he had made, the quarter stake in the Venetian. Still, there was a chance with some of Uncle Sal’s other connections to make a good score, primarily in the form of taking on a chunk of the action that would be bet on Texas, a team that had never lost in the RFL in 2 seasons.

“Well, we made it this far, and we played Texas hard back in November, as close as anyone. We had some injuries, but we’ve had time to get healthy. We’ve got that 3rd running back now, 2 backups, and we’re solid everywhere else. We’ve gotten better on defense and at quarterback too since the season has gone on. We beat New York and that game should never have been as close as it was. The kicker is that Texas gets a home game and they have won 27 straight games, but if anyone can break the streak, we can.”

“Good, I’ve got a million dollar bonus with your name on it if you do, care to put it up for your team?”

“To stay in the spread or win outright?”

“You tell me, you know the odds will differ on points.”

“What can we get to win?”

“Probably 2 to 1, maybe 3 to 2 at less than a touchdown, 1 to 1 straight up between 7 and 10 points is about what we expect, right Uncle Sal?”

“Yeah,” hissed out Uncle Sal, “I can get a mil each way with Freddie at Caesars.”

“Where do you want your mil?” Dano asked directly hinting that the bet was a foregone conclusion.

“Hell, to win it all of course, we can beat the bastards,” Reynolds was thinking of Jess and the confidence the kid had in New York, and how the kid had taken charge. His prize experiment just might pull it off.

“You think so eh?” Dano purred.

“Like I said, we made it this far, I think we can take’m.”

Dano got up and Reynolds stood up too, “You done good Gabriel, no matter what happens from here, but win next Sunday and I guarantee you’ll be a happy man.”

“Okay Uncle,” and the door magically opened behind signaling that it was time to go.

“Love, free as air at sight of human ties,

Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies.”

Alexander Pope