Alex smiled,
swung her door open, and hopped up into the cab of her truck, Rosalie not far
behind. They fastened their seat belts, and Alex started the engine, pulling
out of the parking lot heading down the lonely highway.
They drove
past several large casinos. The buildings with their sprawling parking lots
sprung up like money-hungry oases with little more than a gas station or
drive-thru near them. Rosalie had been in a casino once or twice in her life
and had little reason to go in one again. Still, she had a morbid curiosity;
why were they the only establishments to flourish in the wasteland of the
desert? They did nothing but sully the land and its people with booze, debt,
and false hope of riches. Such corruption seemed like it should have no place
in the vast, relative
