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Dorothy’s honestly just looking for a stiff drink at this point. She doesn’t particularly care where it comes from, or who serves it to her, as long as it knocks her back and makes her feel a little better about the disaster she just witnessed.
Poor Michael. The Zbornak genes are strong with him, but so are the Petrillo ones. She’d left him at the jazz club after he swung into his second set at his insistence; he’d been embarrassed enough that she’d driven all the way to Seymour’s Bay to give him space and time. And now – on the recommendation of a little boy with a flier on the street – she decides to enter the basement of what looks like a burger restaurant. Well, she’s been in stranger places.
The second a minor, wobbling toward her in heels with her hair in a side ponytail, asks her for her drink order, she laments her choices.
“Oh, why not – let’s live a little. Ginger ale on the rocks,” she says.
“So whatt’re you doing here? In for the convention? Gonna gamble?” The attempt at banter touches Dorothy; really, she can see how hard she’s trying.
“Just in for the evening,” Dorothy says with a shrug. “I’ve got a room in Atlantic City with my name on it.”
“Boy, you’re lucky – I don’t even have my name on my own room.” The girl leans against the counter.
“I’m guessing you live here, then.” A wild guess but a realistic one, because who else would employ tweens to keep a casino afloat.
“I’m working for my brother. And sister, sort of. But I get to keep my tips.” She said. “It’s no hero’s job, but I do it for the love of the game. For the action and the danger…is there a spider on my cheek?! Get it off!”
Dorothy reached over and carefully removed the spider from Tina’s cheek. “One of the hazards of basement casinos, I suppose,” Dorothy mused.
“We had to keep the raccoons out,” she admitted. “My name’s Tina, by the way. I hope you don’t mind if I start reading in the middle of my shift.”
“Reading,” Dorothy said, “is the most important thing a young girl can do with her life.”
Tina smiled a wobbly smile at her. A fellow nerd always recognized a fellow nerd, Dorothy realized, and sipped her drink.