EXCERPT

“HOW’S THAT COFFEE tasting this morning, good rez people?” Crusty’s voice boomed over the fade-out. “I bet some of you are hoping it tastes like victory! Those of youse heading down to the Bingo Palace for tonight’s big jackpot better be cleaning your glasses and doing your stretches. Ten thousand bucks on the line for the big one! Holy jumpins. That’ll fill some stockings this Christmas, that’s for sure!”

Dottie didn’t need the reminder. She’d had December 14 circled on her calendar for weeks. The last big bingo jackpot of the year at the Red Cedar Bingo Palace was always a huge draw. She’d never won the big one at the Christmas special, but it was always fun to get together with the community and cheer on the winners. Some got jealous of those who hit the jackpot, but Dottie had always chosen to rise above above rez envy.

But oh Great Spirit, she could really use that jackpot now. Since she retired, she was having a tough time making her pension dollars stretch to cover what she loved to do best, which is spoil the heck out of her eight grandkids. And now her first great grandbaby was on the way, how was she going to pay for all those gadgets and accessories they all wanted—the video games, the hockey jerseys, the latest Disney franchise merchandise? How could she be a second Santa when the thought of paying for a new battery for her unreliable old car made her sweat?

Crusty’s voice pulled her back into the moment.

“How’s that coffee tasting this morning, good rez people? I bet some of you are hoping it tastes like victory!”

Dottie raised an eyebrow. Didn’t he say that already?

“Those of youse heading down to the Bingo Palace for tonight’s big jackpot better be cleaning your glasses and doing your stretches. The last Christmas jackpot ever at the Red Cedar Bingo Palace! Gotta go out with a bang, I guess! Uh, wait…shit…”

Dottie scowled in confusion as Crusty paused, the dead air doubling in weight with each passing second. Then she heard papers rustling in front of the microphone.

The last Christmas jackpot ever?

Crusty mumbled, “God damn it, wasn’t supposed to say that. Gonna have to redo this one. Shit!”

Her heart beat fast. If Crusty had let the truth slip when he wasn’t supposed to, and tonight was the last Christmas jackpot, that meant the bingo hall was closing. What would she do on Saturday nights now? Her social life was already slow enough as a little old rez lady. What would happen to her friend Frankie Benjamin? She sometimes thought that the only thing that had kept him sober all these years was knowing he had to show up at the bingo hall every Saturday night to call the games and keep them all entertained.

What the heck was Crusty talking about?