Cupidity

She had that feeling she was doing wrong, or was it just nerves? Clarissa Smithe perferred to think the latter. After all, people gambled at casinos all the time, and they were in Las Vegas. "They" included her husband who was currently sleeping safely in their budget hotel room.

Ben's perpetual paranoia at times overshadowed his loving manner. The trip to Vegas exemplified this, even though Clarissa had originally agreed that they would not gamble--just go to see the gaudy sights of the strip. A fun, quick get away that the two of them desperately needed. But when Clarissa mentioned during their flight the idea of gambling just a small amount, Tom responed with a road block of disagreement.

If Clarissa were honest with herself, she would admit that gambling had been her plan all along. She had smuggled her own one hundred dollars for that very purpose. It wasn't as if they were poor, but financial restraint constantly peppered Ben's comments. Her parents had been the same, but they really had been poor. She shouldn't have to worry so much now, but Ben did.

Clarissa had privately worked herself into a defiant justification, and so there she stood with the dice in her hands, ready to roll. If she lost, she would say nothing. If she won...she would say nothing.