Standing there was a young man’s image of me fifty years earlier. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. “This can’t be me,” I said to myself.
When I opened my eyes again, behind me was the stranger who sat next to me on the airplane. “You sure look a lot younger now than when you first boarded that airplane and sat next to me,” he remarked “How can this be?” I inquired. “I got on that plane a tired old man, and got off fifty years younger and as healthy as I was when I was in college.”
There was a long pause as I stared at myself in the mirror. “Miracles do happen.” he quoted.
I could only shake my head in total disbelief”.
“And, how was it possible that you left your seat before me and deplaned before I did?” I asked him. “Well, you were still groggy when I stepped over you and retrieved my luggage at the rear of the plane,” he replied with a smile.
Quickly changing the subject, Roy promptly suggested, “I have a limo waiting for me at the curb if you’d like me to drop you off somewhere.” “Sounds good to me,” I responded as I easily lifted my heavy luggage bag and rapidly exited the terminal. “This limo is provided to all the high rollers at a local casino I’m going to after I drop you off,” he said. “Better yet, suppose you join me now to the casino,” he suggested. “Great idea…let’s go for it!” I responded without hesitation.
All of this was happening so fast that it must be true! I was riding in a stranger’s chauffeur driven limo and feeling as good as a young athlete about to receive an Olympic, Gold, Medal. “It appears that my strength and my health has improved since I left that airplane,” I said with a big grin. Roy’s enthusiasm was as joyful as mine.
Something remarkable had come over me since I met Roy. The experience was wonderful!
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The casino was bubbling. If you’ve never been to a Las Vegas casino, you’ve been missing an experience of a lifetime. The lights are never dimmed nor are the gambling tables ever totally shut down. There is music, dancing and ongoing shows around the clock. Las Vegas casinos are an adult’s playground that begins the moment you step inside. Tinsel town, (as it’s called) have casinos where adults become children again and nobody cares. There’s a fever which overcomes the sense of reasoning of right from wrong and nobody cares. Even the most conservative people get caught up with that fever and nobody cares. “Roy, let’s have a night to remember,” I gleamed. “Go for it Ron, It’s all yours,” he responded. “How lucky I was to have met Roy,” I thought. “Who knows how far this unexpected encounter with a total stranger could lead to.
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“Wake up old man, we’re about to land,” I heard a forceful man’s voice over the powerful noise of the planes landing gears being lowered.
It was my passenger companion shaking my arm, which was now sore from sleeping on it in an awkward position.
“You’ve been sleeping for over an hour old man,” he shouted.
“Sleeping?”
“I don’t believe it,” I uttered.
“Surely that was not a dream?” I sputtered in disbelief.
“Why we… you and I that is; drove off together in a chauffeur driven limo, stopped off at a casino, won a great deal of money, and met the most beautiful women in the world.”
“Is that so?” he chuckled.
“I was a young man again. I discarded my cane and danced the night away. It was wonderful.”
“Is that so?” he beamed more cheerfully this time…
“Well, old man Gilbert, it looks like you got your Bright Wish, and so did I”, he grinned.
“As you know, my first name means, “King.” “However, my last name also has an Old Norse meaning as well,” he joked.
“What do you mean?” “Doe’s Nomed mean something in Old Norse?”
“Oh… I forgot to tell you that you only get the true Old Norse meaning of my last name is when you spell it backwards.”
“You mean, D-E-M-O-N?”
“Now you’ve got it!” he gleamed.
“Don’t you remember saying you would sell your soul to the devil if you were young and healthy again?”
“Yes,” I trembled
“Well, you did,” he laughed with joy.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you that I appear in many forms and I am often called…SATAN”.
“Sometimes I appear as a snake as I did in the Garden of Eden.
“But, I mostly appear when you least expect it,” he chuckled.
“And there’s another thing I neglected to tell you, Ron”.
“What’s that, Roy?”, I whispered as I began to feel slightly drowsed.
“Ron…you’re about to have a heart attack.”
Suddenly I felt a sharp pain deep within my chest. As I tried to catch my breath, my eyes began to close and the last voice I heard was that of the flight attendant.
“Did you just ring for assistance, sir?” she asked
“Yes, I did,” replied Roy.
“Please inform the captain that this old man sitting next to me has just passed away!!”
“What old man?” the flight attendant inquired.
“The old man in this seat next to me,” he barked.
“The seat next to you has been empty for this entire flight,” she stated.
“That’s a lie,” Roy shouted at her.
“Please sir, you’re causing a disturbance,” she responded.
“Look in the luggage compartment above the seat and you’ll see his belongings,” Roy suggested angrily.
Holding the door to the open compartment, the attendant peered inside and casually remarked, “There’s no luggage in this bin with the exception of a walking cane.”
“That’s a dam lie,” Roy screamed.
“Perhaps your mind has been playing tricks on you, sir,” she politely responded.
“Sometimes changes in altitude and cabin pressure affect passengers differently”.
“Are you suggesting that my mind can play tricks on me?”
“No one
