The sun baked his aged skin in the blistering heat. It had been Mr. Johnson’s lifelong dream and he was finally here with his wife. The sounds of his slow footsteps were accompanied by his trusty cane.

He had wanted to go to Vegas since he was a little boy. Many decades ago when he was five, he had walked down the same sidewalk.

He finally reached the hotel, the same one he had gone to when he was five, with the sun setting. The motley of bright lights filled the boulevard but he could barely see them with aged his eyes. He couldn’t believe that he was finally in Vegas.

“Come on. Let’s go inside. My feet ache.” His grumpy wife was always complaining.

They entered the Vanetian and managed to walk to the receptionist. They checked in to the room and called the bell boy to take their bags. Mr. Johnson’s frail arms couldn’t carry the weight since his muscles were practically gone. All that remained was Mr. Johnson’s sagging wrinkled skin.

After five minutes he reached the elevator. He walked down the empty hallway with his wife.

“Where’s our room?”

After searching for ten minutes Mr. Johnson realized he was on the wrong floor. They finally got to the right floor and found their room.

They finally entered their room after fumbling with the card key. The room had changed so much since the last time he had been there but that was because it had been many nearly eight decades. He sat down on the plush bed and sank in.

“How much money did you bring?” Mrs. Johnson questioned.

“Everything,” he replied in a small voice.

He had come to Vegas because it was his lifelong dream to gamble. He had watched his father gamble when he was just a little boy, amazed at the fact that his dad was winning so much money.

From that day on, he decided to save all of his money. Mr. Johnson would then come and gamble his heart out. But that didn’t happen. He had moved to a remote pasture in Ireland where he met his Mrs. Johnson and started a family. He forgot all about going to Vegas until one day he came across a little piece of paper.

The handwriting on looked so familiar. Mr. Johnson realized it was his own! He had written on that little yellow paper that he would go to Vegas and gamble all of his money. That same day he packed his bags and dragged Mrs. Johnson out of the house. They were headed to Vegas.

They were finally here and Mrs. Johnson was crushing his dreams. “You’re going to gamble all of it?! We’re not going to have any left!” Mrs. Johnson was always complaining.

“It doesn’t matter! We’re gonna die anyway!” With that, he stormed out of the room, sack of money in his hand, slamming the door behind him.

He finally reached a casino. The strong odor of cigarettes filled the air. Crowds of young joyful people filled the casino. They all had their lives ahead of them. He spotted an empty poker table and took a seat. The dealer gave him his cards, two Aces. He went all in. The flop was a ten, a Jack, and a Queen. His opponent eyed him looking worried but went all in. Mr. Johnson knew that he was obviously bluffing.

The dealer got the turn card. It was a two. Mr. Johnson knew he was going to win. All he needed was a King. The river card was a nine. His opponent gave out a laugh as he threw his cards toward Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson picked the cards up and in front of him were a King and an eight. There was no way that he could have won. His young opponent grabbed the heap of
Poker chips as Mr. Johnson left the table.

He walked back to his hotel room and his wife complained even more but he didn’t care.
He had lost all of his money. An entire life’s savings. But that didn’t matter. He had finally accomplished his lifelong dream.