Bluff City 21: Hard Luck Pt. 2

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Background

Episode (must be logged into Patreon to view)

Episode Description

[Two sheets of letter size paper, yellow, secured to a telephone pole in a column. Bluff City.]

What’s the biggest animal you can think of?

Don’t WORRY about it. We CAN transport it

LIONS. We can transport them.

ANTELOPE. We can transport them!

We once transported an OX clean through the CRANBERRY bogs,

With no problems at ALL!
———
What’s our secret?

It’s a SIMPLE combo of VERSATILITY OF TRANSPORTATION,

And EXPERTIZE.

VERSATILITY OF TRANSPORTATION:

We’ve got TRACTORS. We’ve got TRAILERS.

We’ve got boats BIG AND SMALL.

We have a SINGLE PROP airplane with a LIMITED fuel range!

EXPERTIZE:

We’re VERY good at this.

555-918-1414!!

Opening Narration.

Julian H Bluff continues his Ted Talk.

Music

Hard Luck by Jack de Quidt.

Cast

Plot

It begins to rain. Nash and Carly meet Herc in The Double Tilt Arcade. Nash tells her to trust him and to follow his lead. Carly is pleased to be involved and agrees to help without knowing the details of his plan. Herc greets Carly warmly and Nash a little less warmly, although Herc does eventually shake Nash’s hand.

Nash says that he wants to put down a bet on a horse using casino chips - he has already put a personal bet down on a horse with “his guy”, but he wants to make another bet on the same horse as an “us bet” with himself and Carly. Herc says he would prefer cash and defers, until he hears that the horse Nash wants to bet on in Cinnamon Crisco. As he believes this horse will lose, Herc agrees. Nash promises to pay if the horse loses, and Herc says that given Cinnamon Crisco’s 8:1 odds, he will pay them $4 million if they win. Please with this bet, Nash heads back to the casino.

After he leaves, Carly expresses shock that Herc would take the bet. Herc is also surprised, as he has heard that the race is fixed against the horse she and Nash have just bet on (“he’s gonna lose!” “I’m going to lose!”). Herc says that if it had just been her, he wouldn’t have taken the bet and says that he will split her brother’s losing bet profits with her. Carly is still upset, as she had begun to believe that she could take that money for herself in some other way.

She asks Herc if there’s a way they could get Nash to lose more money and Herc doesn’t believe that this is possible (“I’m going to own Nash Nebraska when this is over”). Herc says that Nash’s money is spread pretty thin between himself, her, Judy, and Jackie. Carly says that Nash losing that much money makes her worry that the casino will then notice the chips she stole. Herc says how worried she is only really depends on how she feels about her brother (“I think he’s a slimy little bastard”).

Herc says that he could put property down on a different horse, thus losing money on two horses. Carly wants to know if he’s certain about it, and Herc assures her that he is (“I’m not going under for Nash Nebraska”). Herc says if it will make her feel better, they can look into why people think a different horse is a ‘sure thing’, and that way they’ll know how fixed the race is.

Herc tracks down Jackie in the casino bathroom. Jackie nervously greets him, and Herc says he has been looking for him out of “professional courtesy”, as Nash has approached him with a large bet and Herc was under the impression that Jackie took all of Nash’s bets. Jackie said that he just gave Nash a tip, but doesn’t have any issue with Nash placing bets with other people. Herc tells him how much Nash put down and Jackie laughs, laughing even harder when Herc tells him that the money Nash used to make the bet belongs to the casino. Jackie tells Herc that he told Nash the wrong horse on purpose in order to get more money out of him. Herc appreciates his honesty and the two part on good terms.

Judy, at her desk in the penthouse, tests different saltwater taffy flavours to decide which ones she will put on her desk for guests. She gets a phone call which worries her, and then pages Jackie. The two meet in the stairwell of the casino. Judy tells him that they have a problem - the horse they have set up to win is sick, and the person who has it is refusing to keep it. If the horse is found, they will discover that Jackie and Judy have replaced the real Cinnamon Crisco (an excellent racehorse) with a fake Cinnamon Crisco (which is bad at racing).

Jackie says that he will look after the horse, which Judy is not reassured by (“you can’t even take care of yourself!”). They decide to pick up the horse and get it medicine, and then Jackie will “hide it”.

Jackie goes to pick up the horse from the docks (Port 22B). Leon Laramie meets them with the horse, which he has been keeping on a boat. Jackie claims that the horse is just seasick, which Leon says isn’t true because the other horses he is keeping on the boat, of which there are at least four, are fine. Jackie pays Leon for looking after the horse, takes the fake Cinnamon Crisco, and leaves. Although Jackie continues to insist that the horse was only seasick, Cinnamon Crisco continues to be unwell even after being on land.

Late that night, Nash receives a call from his mother in his office. She is silent for a full ten seconds, although Nash can hear her light a cigarette before she speaks. Nash tells her he’s been working hard on the casino opening and his mother says that “because of the time difference you might say that it has already opened from my perspective”, and asks if he wants to know how it went. Nash says the fact that she’s calling “says it all”.

His mother says that she is calling not about the casino but about an opportunity she has for him. She says that it has been “a period of years” since she has spoken to his father, but that an opportunity has come to her attention for her to gain a “controlling interest in his enterprise”. Nash promises not to tell his father about her plans (“we don’t talk”) and, after some pressing from her, agrees to help. She says that she requires a substantial investment (“like what dad makes in a year?”), and he agrees to give her that amount, as he believes he will get that money from the 4pm horserace.

He says that Carly sends her love, and that he and Carly are working together on something. His mother is skeptical of Carly’s involvement (“Nash. Don’t let her fuck it up”), and Nash defends her (“She’s a hustler”). She tells him to be safe, and the two hang up. Nash opens his safe, beginning to get money out.

The elevator dings. Nash looks over, seeing someone, their face obscured as they exit the elevator onto the casino floor. As Nash sees them, he looks very worried.Template:Season Two Episodes