“This time the winner will be the first person to completely fill their card with circles. That’s right. You have to get every number.” Duncan looked delighted.

I wonder if there’s any way they can fix this game, Regan thought. She had heard about the cruise director who was in cahoots with some bimbo on board. They used to pretend she had won and then they’d split the proceeds. She looked at the ten-year-old, who was still clutching his winnings. That kid wasn’t going to split his hundred bucks with anyone.

Duncan began again to call the numbers, having a little expression or singsong for each one. “1-26, let’s pick up sticks. Let’s pick up sticks, 1-26.”

On the opposite side of the lounge Gavin was seated between two women of uncertain age. The knees of the one on the right were jammed against his. The one on the left had a disconcerting habit of poking her elbow into his arm whenever one of the numbers on her card came up. She repeated every number in a loud questioning voice, causing Gavin’s blood pressure to rise as he yelled, “Yes, that’s the number,” to her, which in turn occasionally made him miss the next number called, which forced him to ask the people at the next table, which started the cycle all over again. He had also suffered the embarrassment of having her yell “Bingo!” when she wasn’t even close.

I can’t take much more of this, Gavin thought to himself. Let this be the last crossing I have to make, please. At least my card is filling in fast. Only two more numbers to go. As the next number was called and he energetically circled his next-to-last empty space on the card, he heard Lady Veronica’s familiar trill, “Ooh, ooh, dear. Bingo! Isn’t that lovely?” Them that has gets, he observed sourly as she literally danced to the mike, waving her card in her hand.

As Veronica hugged the cruise director, Lloyd Harper checked her numbers and announced that she had won $462. There was a round of oh-so-brief applause as people got up from their chairs, mumbling about coming back tomorrow to try and win the big money. “I told you I should have bought a couple of extra cards,” Regan heard one old man admonish his wife. “She was in line right behind us and we would have gotten the winning one.”

“Ah, shut up, Henry, you blame me for everything,” the old woman wheezed. “Besides, you’ve got more money than you know what to do with. Lord knows you’ve never wasted any of it on me.”