This is a story that Ruth would veto. But here goes.
Brady turned 18 on June 2nd. He told me he planned to start going to the Mt. Pleasant casino as soon as he could. Several of his friends had already been going. When I spoke to him on the 3rd, he told me he and his friends were going that afternoon. “You want to meet us there?”
I hadn’t planned to go, but I couldn’t turn him down. There’s no telling how many times I’d get the opportunity.
I arrived about thirty minutes after him. He said he was down $60. He lost most of it playing roulette. He explained that his friend had a “system” but it wasn’t working right now.
Then I offered up, “At that rate you’ll lose $120 an hour.”
I have a niece, Lisa, who works at the casino. Brady and Lisa have seen little of each other, so I made sure they exchanged hellos. She was working an electronic craps table, so I sat down and played while we talked. I won $37 during our conversation. I know the game but struggled with the equipment. The other players were having a good time with their fingers dancing across the controls. I was hunting and pecking so I threw in the towel early. I was slowing the game down for the others, so I took a walk.
I didn’t want to monopolize Brady’s time with his friends, so I told him I’d check in on him from time to time. I went about my business, and he went about his. About forty-five minutes later I found him sitting at a three-card poker game. I asked if he’d played the game before and how he was doing. He hadn’t played, but “This lady is helping me.”
I looked to his right and saw a forty-some year-old blonde. She was nice looking and seemed to be enjoying her time. I watched a couple hands, gave Brady a stack of chips I was carrying, and told him I was going to a blackjack table. If he needed anything, I’d be there. As I walked away, I thought, “I’m not sure this boy knows what he’s in for.”
“Cougars” are popularly defined as women in their 40s (or older) who date significantly younger men, generally at a 10-year age gap or more. Pop culture paints the cougar as predatory and pathetically desperate, but women have recently begun fighting the stereotype: real cougars, they argue, are confident, successful, single women over the age of 40, who — tired of unromantic and narrow-minded men their own age – date, younger, more active and more adventurous men.”
I’ve read, and written, about a study that outlines an appropriate age gap for people who are considering dating. The formula directs you to take half your age and add seventeen. The magic number is fifty-five for me. That’s twenty-one years my junior. As I’ve said before, that seems young, but I believe “where there’s a will, there’s a way”.
I wonder if the calculations work in reverse. For Brady, half his age plus seventeen would be twenty-six. The nice lady teaching him to play three-card poker was well over twenty-six. She may have been interested in helping him learn to play the game and nothing more. I do know. however, the day will come when a “cougar” will take a liking to this young man. He’s good looking, personable, smart, and athletic. He’s the whole package.
If he has a fault, he may be a bit naive. But then again, he may know exactly how to play the game.