Gamblers Anonymous

Posted on Tue 24th Jul, 2018 @ 10:08pm by Eddie Hunt & Elizabeth Anderson M.D.
Edited on on Wed 25th Jul, 2018 @ 8:39am

947 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Deck 1553
Timeline: MD7 1030 Hours

At the moment, life is good, Dr. Elizabeth Anderson thought, as she strolled around the walking path in the gardens that circled the transportation cylinder on Deck 1553. She was contemplating walking behind the waterfall, Tumbler's View, as it was known. She felt no need to hurry, only a need to be outside for a little while. Birds twittered off to her left, and she stopped to catch the scent of the mixed floral offerings in the garden.

"It's a beautiful deck right?" Eddie said to the woman who had stopped to look at the surroundings. He was always happy to create a conversation with new people, sometimes that's the best way to make new friends.

Turning toward the man who had spoken, Elizabeth said, "It is. It makes a nice break from work or stress, I'd imagine." Fortunately, stress was not an emotion which had developed yet. She rather hoped it wouldn't. "It would be lovely to work here, I think, though my own office is one deck up. I thought I'd come see what it looked like behind the falls."

"Oh, it is really nice behind the falls, too. Have you gone 'round all the gardens on this deck? They're really nice. I met the Head Gardener just the other day. He's a bit grumpy but really has the passion for it," Eddie said, smiling.

"No, not yet. I've just been wandering, without any particular plan in mind. Do you have a business on this level?" she asked.

"The casino. I'm the new owner of it. It's not quite ready for the Grand Opening, but only a few days away!" Eddie exclaimed. "What do you do?"

Elizabeth didn't see much point to gambling herself, but she didn't begrudge others the fun they seemed to find in it. Even if she didn't understand it, there were a lot of people who seemed to love it. Some loved it a little too much. All she answered to that was, "Oh, you don't look like a gambler yourself, more like a Starfleet officer on leave. But then, I suppose Starfleet is its own kind of gambling, isn't it?" She smiled to indicate she didn't mean to be insufferable.

"I'm a counselor, at the moment," Anderson told him. "I've just left Starfleet employment myself, and am starting a clinic in the village by the Riverwalk, one deck down. There were no appointments this morning, so I decided to explore a bit."

"Wow, I'm impressed! I'm exactly that, and on leave. Not many people know that really, and here you are practically telling me I am from a first impression. Maybe I can see why you're a counselor. Ahhh have you been busy with it? Or just starting up also?" Eddie said, still baffled by the woman's conclusion.

"Not really busy yet. People are starting to trickle in, but there's lots of room in the schedule in case you'd like to come see me," Elizabeth joked. Her processors had matched his face to a Starfleet personnel file, and saw that he'd suffered a lot of death in his life recently, but she preferred not to probe further, but to wait for what he'd choose to reveal, if anything.

"Fortunately, the office comes with an apartment upstairs, as well. I'm curious what kind of training has Starfleet given you which will benefit you in supervising a business like this casino," she added, wondering if she should say anything about the pitfalls gambling held for some people.

This was the 2nd counselor he had bumped into over the week, maybe this was a sign that he should see one. He shook off that feeling and replied, "I'm just as curious." He chuckled. "It's mainly for some downtime over my sabbatical and to see if I can be a successful business owner. If I can't be, then I've not really lost out on much. And if I can. Well. Maybe I will have a new calling in life," Eddie smiled at the woman. "I don't think I got your name either Miss? Either I did and just forgotten it already, or I haven't asked yet."

She smiled at his self-deprecating style, "Doctor Elizabeth Anderson. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Well Elizabeth, a thought has just gone through my head. If you're interested, then I'm wondering if I can contract you to be the casino's gambling counselor. Maybe certain times of the day you can be in the casino and those I think have the problems I can send to you. Okay I might lose some customers, but in terms of the community, I can be seen as supporting it as well. Just an idea," he suggested to her after a small light bulb moment.

Surprised, Elizabeth stopped her slow meander through the garden to turn toward him. "Now that's an interesting thought. This is the second time this week that a businessman has suggested something which is outside the way I normally think of businessmen." She saw no need to explain that her knowledge was not based on prejudice but on statistics. That was the kind of comment which would separate her from the humans with whom she hoped to blend.

With a smile, she confided, "I see I might have to revise my opinion ... or be less judgmental. I think that would be a fine idea, actually. I was just imagining a few moments ago that there might be those with gambling addictions who would frequent your business, perhaps get into several kinds of trouble. I suppose you don't know yet what time of day you have the greatest number of gamblers? That's fine, we can work out the details ongoing."

 

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