ORANGES

On Tuesday, Margaret told me she liked the little oranges with the seeds better than the ones I bought.  I hated her for that.  But then again, she hated me too.  It was a mutual feeling since our mother passed away 10 years ago to the day. Despite our mutual dislike for each other, we always met up on the anniversary of her death to share a few margaritas together.  We added a few orange slices to them just to keep the tradition alive. See our mother was an orange farmer and margarita connoisseur.  She grew the best oranges in the state.  Naval oranges to be exact. People were constantly asking her for some samples. She sold them locally at flea markets, corners stores, and even some super market chains. She was a big deal around town.

I happened to bring satsuma oranges this time.  A seedless variety and my sister didn't like this. So after several minutes of arguing back and forth we opted to head to the local casino together. We were drinking champagne and losing our shirts. Margaret was down over five hundred dollars and I was down somewhere in the neighborhood of seven hundred.  We had no idea why were were drinking champagne other than we passed a waitress carrying a tray full of them. Surprisingly, they had orange wedges in them. They had seeds and Margaret had a bad habit of spitting them out. It began to get on my nerves. I couldn't stand it any more. The "plink, plink" sound of the seeds hitting glass was simply annoying. Not to mention just the sheer act of a grown women spitting.

After about 10 minutes of it I had to get away.  I took at my last hundred dollars and placed the chips on black seventeen. She looked at me like I was crazy but she knew my motive; to get away from her. The dealer spun the little white ball and the addicting sound of the wheel spinning suddenly sounded like an echo. Life slowed down as did the wheel. The ball bounced a few times then found its home on black seventeen. We both screamed with happiness, hugged, and yelled for some more champagne as the dealer called to the pit boss, "thirty five hundred going out!" I haven't received that many looks since I was twenty two! The gentlemen sitting to our left asked the waitress to bring us a Purple Lollipop. We had no idea what it was but in all the excitement we couldn't turn it down. A few minutes went by and the excitement left the table. Things went back to normal. The waitress brought the drinks over. After a few sips I asked the gentlemen what was in it.  He looked over, smiled, and said, "Some alcohol and ice but mainly lemons."  My sister and I smiled at each other for the first time in 10 years.