Ida told him, “Well, you need to go out there and tell them something. It’s a whole lot of people still waiting to get in.”

“About how many?” Ivan asked her.

“I can’t count them. They’re all over the sidewalk.”

Ivan walked out to view the crowd for himself. Sure enough, there were plenty of latecomers outside, admiring the luxury and sports cars of the athletes and other high rollers who had arrived early enough to park and make it in. They were also pleased by the girls who walked out to pass them flyers.

“Hey, Ivan, what’s going on, man? Am I still good?”

It was Julio and three of his friends, including his little brother, all standing out in the crowd, late. Julio was wearing Dallas Cowboys gear, all pumped and ready to watch the game.

Shit! Ivan cursed himself. How am I gonna work this line out?

Everyone outside wanted to get in, but the place was fast running out of room. And what if a few of the Padres or Chargers come late? Ivan worried.

He thought fast and told Julio, “One minute, man.” Then he grabbed the first security guard he could reach to walk inside with him.

Once they were inside the door, Ivan told him, “Hey, man, do me a favor and grab the guy with the Cowboys jersey and his friends in here. And if any other professional athletes walk up, you let them in as our special guests. But we need to tell everyone else to come earlier next week and enjoy the game somewhere else, because we’re filled to capacity already.”

Ivan didn’t want to max the place out to elbow-room. That would only make it more ripe for a disaster.

The security guard smiled and said, “I got you, man,” and walked back out to do his job.

Ida overheard him and smiled herself. She said, “You sure got your wish tonight, hunh? So I guess we can close the cash box now.”

Ivan chuckled and said, “I guess so.” He went back to working the crowd on his own that night. Lucina wanted no part of it. She didn’t even bother to witness her partner’s smashing triple. The only thing that stopped it from being a home-run hit was the small capacity of the lounge.

“Hey, what up, man? I’m Ivan David,” he introduced himself to the crowd, shaking hands. He wanted to make sure they all remained sociable.

“Yeah, we know who you are,” some of the crowd responded to him. “From IDPromotions.com, right?”

“Yeah,” Ivan answered, grinning. “Y’all need any more bottles of that good stuff?”

“Is the next bottle free?” someone joked loudly.

Ivan answered, “Naw, this ain’t the place for that, nephew. This is high rollers only in here. So put your money where your mouth is, and we’ll send one of the pretty girls over to collect it.”