Champagne Romance (Romance Novel) (23 page)

Slater no longer had wanderlust. Danger and
intrigue no longer interest him. He was content to be a devoted
family man. He finally understood the most important lesson of
life. It was not in living an exciting existence, but in the daily
ritual of being part of a loving family unit was the true adventure
in itself.

The Slater household was a very happy family.
Well, ---almost. The blended family pets, Cleopatra and Caesar,
were still having a period of adjustment. As history tells it, the
original Caesar and Cleopatra did not exactly “hit it off”
immediately either. Neither four-legged animal seemed to fully
appreciate the fact that they could be living with each other for a
very long time. The last scenario had them giving each other a
hypnotic stare down. Caesar was just a few feet away from Cleopatra
waiting for a slight signal that would goad him into action.
Cleopatra continued to sit on her leopard throne chair beside the
fireplace. She superiorly crouched there twitching her tail back
and forth looking down her nose at “The Great Caesar”. She seemed
to be daring him to come hither and, “Make my day.” A few minutes
later, Caesar accommodated. When the cat/dog fight ended, Cleopatra
was smiling. She remained queen.

Recipe for Champagne Cocktails

One Champagne Flute

One Sugar Cube

4-5 Drops of Bitters

Champagne

Put sugar cube in flute.
Add Bitters. Add Champagne
.

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Preview of Chapters 1-3 from my
book
“Platinum and Pearls”

CHAPTER 1

Viva Las
Vegas
! It was the summer of 2010 and Platinum had
graduated from high school four years ago in Three Lakes, a small
town located in the boot heel of Missouri. It was time to pursue
her dream of bright colorful lights, fancy exotic costumes, and the
razzel-dazzel allure of glamorous Las Vegas, the city that would
make her imaginative fantasy come true. She just knew she would be
a fabulous showgirl on a magnificent stage with all the elaborate
flaming feathers and twinkling sparkling fans where she would meet
all kinds of interesting and exhilarating worldly people. She was
waiting no longer. Today was the time she was going to pursue that
dream and make it become a reality.

Platinum was in the process of packing her
old, but reliable, gray two-door Chevy for her Las Vegas adventure.
She was leaving this quiet retirement community of rambling hills
where she had lived with her elderly grandma for over fourteen
years and whom she dearly loved. Grams had taken her in after her
train wreck of a mom killed herself in a car accident. She’d never
been much of a mother as she was too busy downing pills, booze, and
looking for loser boyfriends. Sadly, she wasn’t much of a loss.

Platinum had worked at the boring local drug
store for the past four years after graduation. She had saved her
money and it was past time that she flew the coop of this Ozark
community to make a more glamorous life for her future close to a
university. The University of Las Vegas was the ideal place of
choice for her ambitious adventures and future degree.

Grandma Ruby watched with sadness as Platinum
packed her car, gathered up her cat, Boo, and got ready to embark
on her new chapter of life. She understood Platinum’s boredom and
restlessness. She knew she had to let go and give her a chance to
find own her way, but LAS VEGAS – known for its sinfulness and
trash! She shook her head.

Platinum hugged her Gram, “Love you! See you
at Christmas.”

Gram hugged her back. “Love you, too.” She
watched mournfully as Platinum’s old gray Chevy roared to life and
left with a belch of smoke, disappearing from view among the
indigenous green foliage and native wild flowers. Grandma Ruby
immediately went into her bedroom, grabbed a scarf, and walked
across the street to a white steeple church. There, she lit a
candle for her granddaughter’s soul. Sadly, it would be the last
time they would see each other.

CHAPTER 2

Platinum meandered her way across the
beautiful state of Missouri, being entertained by the panorama of
the lush Ozarks. It was a typical Ozarky sunshiny day. But,
entertainment was not just in the surrounding nature. There was
also plenty of trailer trash, yard art, billboards advertising
fireworks, Branson shows, and Ozark boating. Strip and gentlemen
clubs seemed to be in abundance. She thought about stopping to
gather some much needed experience, but nixed that illusion almost
immediately. Too risky – might just end up there for the rest of
her life. She was probably right.

Half way to Kansas City, Platinum dodged a
line of tourist cars waiting to enter Bridal Cave, a few wave
runners attached to the backs of pick-up trucks, and an occasional
TV dinner splattered in the middle of the road that awaited the
anxious turkey vultures circling overhead in the clear blue sky and
beyond. Other than that, it was a relaxing drive. The only stop she
made was at a roadside stand for a sack of peaches.

While Platinum drove, she thought briefly
about her life in high school when her glorious hair became a
detriment rather than an asset. Platinum didn’t like the attention
that the boys gave her with their silly hoots and hollers; neither
did the other girls around town. For Platinum, the boys were
annoying and the girls plain jealous and hateful. So, she cut and
dyed her hair black, wore baggie pants and shirts to hide her lush
growing figure, bought dark purple lipstick, pierced an eyebrow,
and gave the appearance of Goth. The boys in this clean cut small
“Ozarky” town soon began to lose interest with her and so did the
girls. It suited Platinum just fine. Her best buddies became her
computer and a stray black cat, named Boo.

Evening was approaching when Platinum finally
reached her first destination – Kansas City. She stopped at a
nearby Motel 6, spent the night, and started out fresh the next
morning as she zoomed across the state of Kansas on I-70. By
nightfall, after avoiding a few stray antelope jumping across the
interstate, she saw the Rocky Mountains.

CHAPTER 3

Twenty-four hours later, it was getting late
and the sun had long disappeared from behind the violet desert
plains. Platinum was driving in the cool desolate sandbox sprinkled
with sparse vegetation and the dry breeze blowing through her hair
when at the bottom of the skyline a glow began to appear. Her
excitement began to escalate when she saw the faint soft
illumination of glamorous purple, bright orange, and hot pink
lights in the distance as they appeared in rainbow colors on the
midnight horizon. It seemed forever before she finally reached the
heart of the city with all its razzle, dazzle, glitz, and glamor of
blinking colorful neon lights. She was not disappointed by what she
saw.

Holy shit, the Las Vegas
Strip was magnificent
! Platinum thought. Flashing
signs were everywhere, trying to catch the eye of any weary tourist
or gambler, mesmerizing and beckoning. They were usually extremely
successful with their titillating and teasing tactics. Advertising
agencies were paid the big bucks to make them so.

Platinum was not immune to the hypnotic lure
of the Las Vegas blinking lights either. She was just as captivated
by the flashing “blinging” signage as everyone else. In fact, she
could hardly contain her excitement that was bottled in
anticipation as she immediately found the nearest parking lot.
After feeding Boo, she locked him in the car, cracked a window for
cool desert air, and began her tour of the sandy city as she ate a
fresh bagel from a street vendor along with her last peach from the
Ozark stand.

Platinum wandered in and out of casinos until
the morning sun rays began peeking over the eastern horizon, fading
from the land of Tinsel Town, the biggest amusement park for adults
in the world. It left behind not quite such a glamorous early
morning daytime city, but it was not a detraction for Platinum with
her rose colored glasses perched on the end of her nose. It was
also easy to ignore Grams prediction of doom. That's why the sights
and sounds combined together as they entangled themselves around
her soul, hoping to own this beautiful new woman and make her one
of their own. It was as if it were their job to prey upon the
innocent and unsuspecting.

Anxious to begin her new life, Platinum
checked her computer to make sure the duplex she spotted last week
was still available. It was just right for her budget and about
fifteen minutes from the black heart of the city. It was sparsely
furnished, the perfect size for her needs and funds with a sleazy
landlord anxious to rent as soon as she could move in, which was
that afternoon. It did not take long to make it her own home.

Exploring Las Vegas for the next few days was
a blast. It was so full of all kinds of people, beginning with the
bus loads of senior citizens in their white tennis shoes and fanny
packs, tourists that came from a variety of different countries,
families with children, and professional gamblers. A few
prostitutes loitered somewhat discreetly on some of the
disreputable side streets. Platinum vowed she'd go back home and
work at K-Mart before she'd follow their lead.

The entire town seemed to own a boat load of
Elvis Presleys. They all wanted to be the impersonator of The King.
Some actually worked at the casinos while others were just hoping
to be discovered. After a while, Platinum decided most everyone in
Tinsel Town wanted to live their dream. Who was she to pass
judgment?

Platinum wandered into a small casino called
The Shining Star tuning out the noise of the humming and dinging of
the slot machines that surrounded her. She grabbed a coke and sat
down feeling discouraged before she devoted her attention to the
middle-aged Elvis who was so over weight that he had to sit in a
chair on the stage to sing, but boy could he sing.

A couple of weeks had passed since Platinum
had landed on the playground of Las Vegas. She had applied at
various casinos for a showgirl audition. So far, disappointingly,
she hadn't gotten a break. No one was beating down her door for a
tryout.

The city didn't seem quite so exciting any
more. Platinum started to notice the trash in the streets, the
women with too much makeup trying to disguise the years that had
taken their youth, gamblers with empty pockets, mistresses on the
arm of old guys, worn out carpeting, dusty chandeliers, burned out
lights in blinking signage and so on.

Elvis waddled over to Platinum's table with a
lot difficulty. She always appreciated it when he did that as she
knew he did so with much effort. That's how she knew the first time
she met him that he was going to be a good friend.

Platinum remembered her first encounter with
Elvis was about the third time that she'd popped into The Shining
Star. She'd done so a couple of times to grab a bagel and listen to
Elvis sing that first week she was in town. After a few visits, the
bouncer from the Shining Star came strutting over to her, “You a
hooker?”

Mortified, Platinum just shook her head.

“Well, move on anyway,” he replied with
suspicion in his voice.