#AND THEN WON. moral of the day: keep gambling and borrow money to keep gambling even more

[industrialgender]

discovered a dark side of myself today (gambling addiction)

[cryingcow]

Character Story - Tanimura [RGGO]

. . . Yeah, I gave up on Ryuji’s. Sorry, it was frustrating  >_<. Instead, it’s time for the Mr. Gambling Turtle!

I find it funny that Tanimura’s dad/s go to all the trouble of naming him “Masayoshi” for justice and whatnot, only for no one to ever use his first name XD But “Ma-chan” is cute tho! Also, never figured Tanimura as a detective could be so idealistic, especially when compared to someone like Yagami ┐(￣～￣)┌ .

Story: Tanimura and Date work together to solve a robbery. Tanimura learns like 3 moral lessons from his senior at the end of it, and proceeds to completely misinterpret said lessons.

Date: “Little Asia. My god, just look at this place.”

Tanimura: “Okay can you stop dissing my home now and get back to the case?”

Note: “Continental descent” just means “Chinese”. I wanted to put “mainlander” because that’s the accurate term, buuut idk if it would be more or less confusing like that esp with Westerners. (Also, the way we use “mainlander” in our country is Not Very Nice. Not sure if the connotation is the same in Japan.)

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CHAPTER 1

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|2010. Tanimura Masayoshi, along with Kiryu and others, uncovered and resolved a big conspiracy involving the Metropolitan Police Department. After resolving the incident, Tanimura was transferred from Community Safety Division to Criminal Investigation Division One. Life goes back to normal.|

[Mahjong Parlor]

Youth: “Damn it! Ma-chan’s probably going to win again!”

Tanimura: “Heh. I’m on a roll lately.”

Friendly Youth: “Hey, Ma-chan. Is it okay for you to be here? Didn’t you move from Community Safety to Criminal Investigation Division 1?”

Tanimura: “Well, I’m a detective who deals in murder now. They gave my achievements from the recent incident a high evaluation.”

Friendly Youth: “In that case, isn’t this bad? Then your boss will come here to yell at you . . .”

Tanimura: “Oh, you mean Date-san? Yeah, that would certainly be dangerous. I should get back to the station before he finds out.”

Friendly Youth: “One of these days, you’re going to get yourself fired . . .”

----

[Little Asia]

Mister: “Yo, Ma-chan. Playing hooky as usual.”

Tanimura: “I’m at work. Patrolling. I’m here to protect the safety of this area.”

Child: “Ma-chan, let’s play!”

Tanimura: “Sorry, I’m at work. Later~.”

Tanimura: (Well, if I play hooky too much, Date-san will find out. I should get back to the station fast.)

Tanimura: “Hm?”

Lowly Gangster: “It’s not a bad idea. And more than that, I don’t think we can wait any longer!”

Weak Middle-aged Man: “H-Hii! It-It hurts! Please stop hitting me!”

Tanimura: (That’s . . . the manager of Smile Heights Ni Hao, Hao-san . . .)

Tanimura: “Oi! What are you guys doing?!”

Lowly Gangster: “Ah?!”

Hao: “Ma-chan!”

Lowly Gangster: “Don’t butt in!! I’m working! I’m collecting this guy’s debt!”

Tanimura: “You’re a debt collector? Hao-san, how much did you borrow?”

Hao: “500,000 . . . I should have won the horse race . . . I lost a lot of money. Haha . . .”

Lowly Gangster: “The interest has ballooned to 5 million! Pay up 100,000 for this month!”

Tanimura: “Hey, stop! 500,000 to 5 million, that’s obviously an illegal interest rate!”

Lowly Gangster: “Bastard, didn’t I tell you earlier not to butt in? What are you, a cop?”

Tanimura: “. . . Tanimura of the Kamurocho Police. You do know if you keep doing that, you’ll be guilty of assault, right?”

Lowly Gangster: “What? There’s 3 of us here. Bastard, don’t think you can do anything on your own!”

Tanimura: “Well, that’s why I called backup.”

Police Officer: “Sir! I received your request for backup!”

{The policeman takes the yakuza away.}

Hao: “Tanimura-san, thank you!”

Tanimura: “Hao-san, if you can’t stop yourself from gambling, why did you have to borrow from that guy?”

Hao: “Because I thought I could win . . .”

Tanimura: “Aren’t you teaching children? A teacher shouldn’t be showing that kind of example.”

Hao: “Ah . . . you’re right. I should set a good example as a teacher.”

Tanimura: “You’re a good person, Hao-san. Isn’t it a shame you lost sight of that because of debt? I asked Mei-Fa recently, and I heard you were picking up orphans and putting them up in your apartment?”

Hao: “Yup. It wouldn’t be fair to push the children all on Omomuki-san, and I like kids anyway.”

Tanimura: “That’s good. That’s why you shouldn’t lose yourself in debt.”

Little Boy: “Ah, there you are Hao-sensei! It’s time for cram school!”

Hao: “Ah! Is it already time?”

Tanimura: “Oh, Hao-san, wait a moment. Here, take this.”

Hao: “Eh?! Money? Are you sure?”

Tanimura: “Yeah. This is the money I won from gambling. Use it to buy the children clothes and teaching materials.”

Hao: “Th-Thank you!”

Little Boy: “Hao-sensei! Let’s go! Everyone is waiting!”

Hao: “Tanimura-san! Again, thank you very much!”

Tanimura: “Go already. And don’t use it for gambling!”

{Hao leaves with the little boy.}

Tanimura: “Teaching children for free, and feeding them on top of that . . . He’s a good person. If only he didn’t have debt and a gambling habit . . .”

Date: “Are you talking about someone else? Because I know a detective who plays mahjong.”

Tanimura: “. . . guh. Date-san . . .”

Date: “I finally found you! Your paperwork isn’t finished yet, you truant demon!”

Tanimura: “Th-This time is different! I wasn’t playing hooky! In fact, I was helping people with their troubles . . .”

Date: “That’s no excuse! If a subordinate of Sudo is skipping out on work, it’s up to me to drag him back. Now, let’s go!”

Tanimura: “I understand . . .”

----

|Several days later . . .|

[Mahjong Parlor]

Tanimura: “Hehe. Oh, this tile . . . I’m on a roll today~.”

Friendly Youth: “Ma-chan, you’re skipping work again to play mahjong. You’re going to get disciplined again.”

Tanimura: “I just can’t stop. Anyway, it’s noisy outside. Is something going on?”

Friendly Youth: “I don’t know. Why are you asking me, you’re the detective. Haven’t you heard anything on your comm device?”

Tanimura: “Hm, I wonder. I was focused on something else today. Oh, this tile . . .”

Date: “Tanimura!! I knew you’d be here . . .”

Tanimura: “D-Date-san? Uh, you see . . . I wasn’t skipping . . .”

Date: “There’s been an incident.”

Tanimura: “Eh? Incident?”

Date: “A bank robbery. Happened just a while ago.”

Sudo: “A man wearing a full-faced helmet broke into the bank, stole 5 million in cash, and escaped on a scooter. It seems that he fled to Little Asia.”

Tanimura: “In Little Asia?”

Date: “You’re very familiar with Little Asia, correct? So you’ll be on this case.”

Tanimura: “. . . Understood. What did the guy look like?”

Date: “There was one perpetrator, a 170cm tall medium-sized man of continental descent.”

Tanimura: “Continental descent . . .”

Date: “There’s only one way in to enter Little Asia. All the other exits have been secured.”

Tanimura: “Wait, are you suspecting someone who lives in Little Asia?”

Date: “Given the situation, I have to be suspicious.”

Tanimura: “Is . . . that so . . .”

Date: “Why are you upset? People who are born and raised in this city can be suspects.”

Tanimura: “It’s just . . . I know everyone in Little Asia, but I don’t know anyone who’d be a thief . . .”

Date: “Hey, Tanimura . . . you know you should look at the facts and not get distracted by personal feelings, right?”

Tanimura: “Alright . . .”

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-END-

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CHAPTER 2

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[Little Asia]

Date: “Little Asia. Narrow streets tangling with one another . . . Foreign signboards in a narrow space lined up in front of suspicious stores . . . It’s the perfect place to hide.”

Tanimura: “Haa. Yeah, maybe you’re right . . .”

Date: “Alright. Tanimura, now listen up.”

Tanimura: “I don’t feel like I’m suitable for this . . .”

 {Date and Tanimura presumably discuss their gameplan and go find residents to interrogate.}

Youth: “A man wearing a full-faced helmet?”

Tanimura: “Yeah, and he escaped into Little Asia on a scooter. Did you see him?”

Youth: “. . . You know, I think I did. He went inside a tobacco shop.”

Tanimura: “A tobacco shop, thank you!”

Youth: “Tanimura-san, are you suspecting one of us?”

Tanimura: “No, no. That’s not the case . . .”

Youth: “Is that true? Ren-san of the tobacco shop said he was also interrogated . . . You and that tough-looking detective are going around checking everyone’s alibi.”

Tanimura: “Tough-looking detectives . . .”

Date: “. . .”

Youth: “We may be poor, but when we’re in trouble, we help each other out. We’re not robbers.”

Tanimura: “I-I know. I don’t suspect everyone here. Thank you for giving us information. {to Date} It seems the guy went this way.”

Date: “Even so, this is a complicated place. If you weren’t with me, I’d have gotten lost.”

Tanimura: “Well, at first glance it’s just a dilapidated town.”

Date: “If the suspect is someone who doesn’t know the land, he’ll get lost. But if he does know the area, it’ll be easy to lose the police.”

Tanimura: “Um. Do you still suspect someone in Little Asia?”

Date: “I don’t want to doubt them, but as always we should.”

Tanimura: “‘Prejudice in the investigation is strictly prohibited’.  . . . I understand.”

Chinpira: “Oi!”

Chinpira: “You’re the ones who’ve been swaggering around Little Asia, aren’t you?”

Date: “Hm? Who are you guys?”

Tanimura: “Do you even live here?”

Chinpira: “Dunno. But you’re really annoying. Get out of here now.”

Tanimura: “Are you headaches working for the criminal we’re investigating? Getting in our way like this, maybe . . . you’re the robbers?”

Chinpira: “What did you say?”

Tanimura: “You see, Date-san? The culprit is an outsider all along.”

Date: “. . . Tanimura. That doesn’t seem to be the case right now.”

Chinpira: “If you don’t get out now, I’ll kick you out myself!”

{Tanimura and Date defeat the guys.}

Chinpira: “U-ugh . . .”

Tanimura: “Oi! Are you the robbers?!”

Chinpira: “What the hell are you talking about?! We were just ordered to get in your way!”

Tanimura: “Ordered? By who?”

Chinpira: “I-I don’t know. A bunch of unknown men. Probably yakuza, based from how they dressed . . .”

Tanimura: “Is that true?”

Chinpira: “It’s true! If we disturb your investigation, we’ll be paid . . . is what they said.”

Date: “You guys . . . where were you and what were you doing at around 5:30PM today?”

Chinpira: “We were playing at the arcade at that time.”

Date: “And you’re not lying?”

Chinpira: “I-I’m not lying! We even took pictures at the arcade . . .”

Date: “The crime took place at around 5:30PM. If you have an alibi, it should be the timestamps on those arcade pictures.”

Tanimura: “If that’s the case, do you think the yakuza who ordered them are the real robbers?”

Date: “It’s suspicious, sure, but its relevance to the robbery is still unknown.”

Tanimura: “Is that so . . . so what do we do with these guys?”

Date: “They obstructed a police investigation. Call for backup and let them handle it. We can go back to our investigation as soon as they take over.”

Tanimura: “Got it.”

----

Tanimura: “According to the testimony, the criminal escaped around here . . .”

Date: “It’s a straight road. What do you think lies ahead?”

Tanimura: “It’s a dead end. But . . .”

Date: “But?”

Tanimura: “There’s an apartment here. A place managed by a person named Hao . . .”

Date: “Hao?”

Tanimura: “Yeah. He’s a good person who takes orphans in and teaches them for free.”

Date: “Oh. That may be your impression of him, but it’s possible the criminal escaped into his apartment.”

----

Tanimura: “! That thing lying in front of the apartment . . . is that a scooter?”

Date: “That’s what the criminal was using, and it’s even the same color.  . . . hm? The license plate has been peeled off.”

Tanimura: “Is it the getaway vehicle?”

Date: “Seems like it. The engine is still warm. Thinking that he got away with it, the criminal made a mistake.”

Tanimura: “Following the footprints leading away from the scooter . . . it looks like the criminal escaped into the apartment.”

Hao: “Oh. Tanimura-san?”

Tanimura: “Hao-san? Are you in there?”

Hao: “. . . Yup. I was in the caretaker’s room. Tanimura-san, is this an investigation?”

Tanimura: “Yeah. In fact, I’m chasing down a robber. A man wearing a full-faced helmet escaped down here.”

Hao: “Eh!”

Date: “This hut in front of the apartment that looks like a lottery counter. Is this the caretaker’s room?”

Tanimura: “Yeah. Children live here, so he keeps an eye out for suspicious people from over there.”

Date: “So in other words, the criminal wouldn’t have been able to get pass without the caretaker seeing them.”

Hao: “. . .”

Date: “Hao-san. How about it? Looking at the situation, it is likely that the culprit disposed of the scooter here and fled into the apartment. Did you not see the criminal run by? If you really were in the caretaker’s room, you should have seen him.”

Hao: “. . . th-that is . . .”

Date: “. . . Did you see him?”

Hao: “I-I didn’t see anyone! No one passed by here!”

Date: “And there’s no mistake?”

Hao: “There’s no doubt! No one escaped to this apartment!”

Date: “Is that so . . .”

Hao: “. . . um. Can I go now?”

Date: “Yeah. Understood. Thank you for your time.”

{Hao goes back inside.}

Tanimura: “Hao-san didn’t see the criminal running away. So where could the culprit be?”

Date: “Something stinks.”

Tanimura: “Eh?”

Date: “It seems like the caretaker is hiding something.”

Tanimura: “Just because he doesn’t want to talk to the police all of a sudden? Maybe he’s busy.”

Date: “Maybe so. But . . . can’t you think of another reason? Like the caretaker protecting the fleeing criminal.”

Tanimura: “Date-san. Hao-san is a good person who takes care of orphans for free, isn’t he? He can’t be covering up for a robber.”

Date: “What if Hao-san knows the criminal? Wouldn’t that be reason enough to protect him?”

Tanimura: “Th-That’s . . .”

Date: “Hey, Tanimura. Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way of the investigation. You shouldn’t dismiss the possibility.”

Tanimura: “I know . . .”

Date: “Alright. Then let’s keep an eye on the apartment from the opposite building. If there is a criminal in there, he’s sure to come out eventually.”

Tanimura: (Hao-san protecting the criminal? That’s stupid . . .)

.

-END-

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CHAPTER 3

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|About an hour after Tanimura and Date started watching Hao’s apartment . . .|

[Little Asia]

Date: “There’s no movement. The caretaker still continues to watch TV in his room. The probable criminal hasn’t come out.”

Tanimura: “Yeah, he’s done nothing but watch TV the entire time. But, there is something strange about him . . .”

Date: “Strange how?”

Tanimura: “Hao-san has been fidgeting the entire time. Like he’s wary of something.”

Date: “You think he’s aware he’s under surveillance?”

Tanimura: “I wonder. But there’s something even stranger . . .”

Date: “What?”

Tanimura: “I told you that Hao-san tutors children, right? He should be teaching at this time. The study room is on the second floor . . .”

Date: “And yet he’s been in the caretaker’s room the entire time.”

Tanimura: “Yes. It’s supposed to be his daily routine . . . On top of that, I haven’t seen any of the children. The lights aren’t even on, and normally they should be switched on at the second floor . . .”

Date: “Tanimura . . . do you think your observations are related to the robbery case?”

Tanimura: “. . . I . . . think so . . . If we believe that a robber is in the apartment . . . it makes sense why the cram school isn’t open. The criminal could be using the children as hostages. That might be why Hao-san is protecting him. But . . . if that’s the case, it’s puzzling why the room isn’t lit. There’s no reason to turn the lights off and tell everyone otherwise.”

Date: “Heh. Tanimura, it seems you finally understand how to observe without letting your personal feelings interfere.”

Tanimura: “I’m not . . . I’m still not doubting Hao-san.”

Date: “. . . Alright. Let’s end this stakeout.”

Tanimura: “What are we going to do?”

Date: “You said things felt strange. It’s time to confront the caretaker. Doing so may move this situation from its standstill.”

Tanimura: “. . . Understood.”

Tanimura: “Hao-san. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Hao: “T-Tanimura-san? What’s wrong?”

Tanimura: “Where are the kids?”

Hao: “! W-We-Well, that is . . .”

Tanimura: “It’s time for cram school, right? But the lights on the second floor are still off. Hao-san, what on earth is going on? Where are the children?”

Hao: “. . . uh . . .”

Tanimura: “I’m going to look inside the apartment room. Is that okay?”

Hao: “. . . Tanimura-san! I’m sorry!”

{Hao grabs a bag and pushes past Tanimura.}

Tanimura: “Ah! Hao-san, where are you going with that bag?! . . . ! The scooter?”

Date: “Tanimura! He got away! Let’s go chase him!”

Tanimura: “O-Okay!”

Tanimura: (Hao-san, is this a joke? There’s no way you . . .)

----

Date: “Haa . . . haa . . . damn it! The alleys are too complex and our target is on a scooter! Haa . . . haa . . . this is . . . we have to keep going!”

Tanimura: “Date-san! Here! Please follow me!”

Date: “H-Hey, that’s the opposite direction . . .”

Tanimura: “This is a shortcut!”

Tanimura: “Haa . . . haa. There you are, Hao-san.”

Date: “Haa . . . haa. Tanimura, you were right.”

Tanimura: “Haa . . . haa . . . Hao-san got off the scooter and entered that building!”

Date: “Alright! Let’s catch him!”

 ----

Tanimura: “Hao-san!! Haa . . . haa . . . haa . . .”

Hao: “T-Tanimura-san?”

Tanimura: “What’s in that bag? Is it money?! Are you the robber?!”

Hao: “Th-That’s . . .”

Tanimura: “Show me what’s inside!”

{Tanimura grabs the bag and forces it open.}

Hao: “Ah.”

Tanimura: “Th-this is . . .”

Date: “The 5 million that was stolen. Judging from the number of wads, I’d that’s probably it.”

Hao: “. . .”

Tanimura: “Hao-san! What is the meaning of this?! Why did you become a robber . . .”

Hao: “. . . i-it couldn’t be helped.”

Tanimura: “What can’t?”

Hao: “The yakuza were claiming my debt! They took the children!”

Tanimura: “What did you say?”

Hao: “They . . . if you’re an orphan in Little Asia, it’s hard to go to the police . . . If I didn’t pay off my debt, they’d kidnap the children and sell them off . . .”

Tanimura: “I see. Since the parents of those children were here illegally, then those kids don’t exist at all in this country.”

Date: “in other words, there is no one who’ll sue them. They’re free to do human trafficking.”

Tanimura: “Hao-san, is that why you did the robbery?”

Hao: “They ordered me to. If I steal the money, they’ll return the children.”

Tanimura: “Is that so . . .”

Yakuza: “There it is! That money is ours.”

Tanimura: “! Who are you guys?”

Yakuza: “It can’t be helped now that he’s talked. I’m taking all that money. Hand it over in exchange for the children’s lives, or we’ll sell them to get the money.”

Tanimura: “I won’t let you do that. I’m not paying, now hand over those kids.”

Yakuza: “Kekeke. There’s only two of you against us. You’re going to die right now!”

{Tanimura and Date defeat the yakuza.}

Tanimura: “Where are the children?! Answer me!!”

Yakuza: “S-Second floor of the opposite building . . . they’re tied up there . . .”

Date: “Tanimura, watch these guys and Hao-san. I’ll call for back up and pick up the kids.”

Tanimura: “Got it. Hao-san, are you okay?”

Hao: “Yup. Tanimura-san, I’m sorry . . .”

Tanimura: “Hao-san, if you’re ever in trouble, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Hao: “Tanimura-san . . .”

 ----

Date: “Tanimura. The children are safe and protected now.”

Tanimura: “Um. Does the police know about the children’s complicated situations . . .”

Date: “Yeah. I sat that out. It would be confusing when it comes to the police.”

Tanimura: “Thank you very much.”

Date: “About Hao-san . . . as expected, there’s no easy way to handle his case. Even though he was threatened, it was still a robbery. They might give him a lighter sentence.”

Tanimura: “The situation is what it is. I hope they do . . .”

Tanimura: “. . .”

Date: “What’s wrong? That’s not the face one wears when a case is resolved.”

Tanimura: “. . . This case went exactly as you said. I was too caught up in my personal feelings, and my eyes were clouded. I should have known from the testimony that Hao was suspicious, but I didn’t want to doubt him. I didn’t want to believe my friends from Little Asia could do that.  . . . No, I didn’t want you to think they’d do it. Letting such thoughts distract me from the facts . . . I should be kicked off the police force.”

Date: “. . . You’re right. It’s not a very flattering side of you. But Tanimura, I think there are two kinds of people in the police. The kind who upholds the law . . . while the other kind fights for their idea of justice. There are people like you who learn once they bounce back from their mistakes. Remember that.”

Tanimura: “. . . I will. Thank you very much, Date-san.”

Date: “Besides, solving this case would have been impossible if it wasn’t for your keen eye and familiarity with the streets of Little Asia. It seems your truancy turned out to be useful this time. Heh, if everyone was just like you, the world would be a better place.”

Tanimura: “Haha, I can’t say anything to that.”

 ----

|A few days later . . .|

[Mahjong Parlor]

Tanimura: “Alright! I win again this time~!”

Friendly Youth: “Wow! You beat me again!”

Tanimura: “Hehe. Looks like I’m in great form today as well.”

Friendly Youth: “But Ma-chan. Is it okay for you to be skipping out on work again? Your boss is going to get angry at you.”

Tanimura: “It’s alright, it’s alright. I had a chat with my boss. It turns out my truancy is useful.”

Friendly Youth: “Is that true . . . Oh, that’s right. It seems like Hao-san got off with a light sentence.”

Tanimura: “Yeah. They took into consideration the fact that he was threatened by the yakuza.”

Friendly Youth: “If Hao-san is gone, there’ll be no one to take care of the kids.”

Tanimura: “Yeah. I’m glad all the loose ends are tied up.”

Date: “What loose ends are tied up?”

Tanimura: “Guh. Date-san . . .”

Date: “Tch, you! Are you playing hooky again?!”

Tanimura: “N-No, because you gave me permission to skip, didn’t you? You said skipping was good!”

Date: “You idiot! I didn’t give you permission! And I’m not cleaning up your paperwork! Sudo told me off because of your truancy! Get back to work!”

Tanimura: “Y-Yes! I’m sorry!”

{Tanimura runs off.}

Date: “Good grief . . .  Heh. To be young with such energy.”

.

-END-

Masterlist

[allyouhavetodo]

Let’s Watch The Twilight Zone: Episode Seventeen

The Fever

a.k.a. The one about how gambling is bad

Welcome to Las Vegas! See the lights! See the slots! See the greedy and debauched masses! I assure you it is garish, though that is hard to get across in black and white.

This is the story of a couple, The Gibbs, consisting of a lovely woman named Flora and a vile man named Franklin.

They are here in Vegas because Flora won a contest! They’re going to be in the paper! The hotel manager greets them, congratulates them, and tells them they have unlimited credit. Which is...not true and would be crazy. Unless he means it like an unlimited line of credit—they’re never going to cap the amount you can borrow because they can always break your knees if you don’t pay it back. That makes sense.

Rod Serling gives us an introduction to the couple and assures us that even though they’re only set to be there for 3 days and 2 nights one of them is bound to be overcome by something called “the fever” very shortly.

We quickly learn that Franklin is not about Vegas at all. He’s here because his wife won a contest, and it’s free, and that’s it. He thinks gambling is immoral and “a miserable waste of time.” (We immediately see a woman win a literal basket of money from a slot machine.) Flora is over hearing all of this and wanders off to the slots. She has just put a nickle in a machine when Franklin runs up and snatches her hand away. He starts lecturing her on gambling (again) and tells her she’s obviously “not mature enough” to make decisions about money if she’s just going to throw it away like this. (These people are in their fifties. Did I mention Franklin was horrible?)

He let’s her pull the lever since the nickle is already in the machine. She loses. :(

But before they can leave the hellish floor, a comically drunk man drags Franklin away, forces a dollar into his hand, forces him to put the dollar in a machine, and then wanders away. Being a prudent, if awful, man, Franklin pulls the lever. And wins! The perfect occasion for another lecture to Flora about how they are better than all these immature animals around them. They’re not going to feed that money right back into the system. They’re going to keep it. They’re going to save it. “The Gibbs know the value of money!”

As they’re finally making their way off the floor. The drunk wanders back to that same machine, plays it again. And also wins! In the same instant, Franklin stops dead. “Did you call my name?” he asks his wife. She didn’t, she’s right beside him. Stop being weird. (Guess who’s getting the fever???)

That night he’s in bed. Separate beds, natch. When he hears the stack of coins from the slot machine calling his name. Literally. They say “Franklin” over and over again in a grinding clattering voice until he is driven to get up and go to them.

Flora wakes up while he’s still standing dumbly over the coins and he tells her that he doesn’t feel comfortable having this dirty immoral money in their room. (”If there’s one thing I know it’s morality!” Sure, Franklin.) He’s going to go downstairs and put it all back into a machine. It’s the only logical thing to do!

Flora is incredulous. But, whatever, at least he’ll be gone for a while.

Cut to three hours, and three cashed checks for more chips, later and Franklin is still on the floor pulling the lever of that same machine. Turns out Flora also got fully dressed and came down with him and is trying to get him to go back to bed. But, no! “How can I stop!? I’ve lost a great deal of money! I have to get it back.”

She continues to try to get him to leave and he calls her a shrew, tells her he hates her, and that she’s bad luck and she needs to go away. (Kill. This. Man.)

Two more hours and several more cashed checks later, even the cashier at the casino feels bad for him He’s a sweaty mess, mechanically pulling the lever over and over again. Flora has come back and has apparently been standing silently behind him for almost all of this whole five hours. He collapses against the machine, begging for water. But he still won’t stop. The machine is teasing him. It gives, it takes, it gives, it takes. But there’s a $10,000 jackpot and if he sticks with it long enough, he knows he’s going to beat it. 

Now it’s the freaking morning. Franklin is still there. Flora is still standing behind him. He puts his last dollar in the machine. And it jams.

He goes ballistic. Yelling about how it took his dollar, how its cheating him, how it’s got to give him back his goddamn dollar back. He tackles the machine to ground and tries to fight it.

Finally, the serious be-suited men who have been hovering around this madman all night drag him away.

At least they don’t get kicked of their hotel. Flora’s vacation isn’t completely ruined. That night, Franklin is in bed, staring glassy-eyed at the ceiling, still ranting about the machine. He can’t believe he got beaten be a thing. Literally, he can’t believe it. Because now he thinks the machine was alive. That it deliberately jammed right as it was about to pay off just to toy with him. It’s a monster!

And this is when he starts to hear that voice calling his name again. Fraaaanklin, Franklin, Franklin, FranklinFranklinFranklin!

He starts running around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. I thought it was going to be that he still had one of the coins deep down in his pocket or stuck in his shoe or something, but no! He flings open the door to the room and there the machine is in the hall! It starts rolling toward him and he slams the door in it’s face.

But it just keeps rolling on through the door. Gliding, very dalek-like toward him. Exterminate. I mean, Franklin.

Flora cannot see the machine and does not know what the fuck is wrong with her husband.

He’s still freaking out. Clutching his face. Backing away. Backing right through a window. Smashing the glass and falling to the street below. And DYING.

After he’s been declared dead, while he’s still laying there in the street (Flora is nowhere to be seen--good for her) a single coin rolls across the pavement towards him and there’s the machine. Looming over him still. Unsatisfied even in death.

Close on a Rod Serling voice over, remarking on how Mr. Gibbs lost his money, his reason and finally his life. And pondering how slot machines have many names (one-armed bandit, etc.), but since this is The Twilight Zone, we’re going to stick with Mr. Gibbs’ moniker--monster.

---

So, that was straightforward. Gambling is bad. Got it. Especially bad in The Twilight Zone. No doubt. But, hey, that guy sucked so who cares if he died of slots anyway?