canyons, wax, and chips
After the Bellagio Buffet, Alicia and Matthew part ways -- she on a hunt for family souvenirs and he to find someplace quiet. Matthew finds a small faux-marble nook outfront of Caesar's Palace with a Hindu shrine and no other people. This little courtyard is pleasant; the Donny & Marie billboard is distant enough that its looped advertisement is just a murmur beneath the accordion-synth loop that plays from tiny speakers that litter the Palace grounds. The centerpiece of the shrine is a marble Ganesh surrounded by various Hindu bric-a-brac, the authenticity of which seems moot considering it is within walking distance of a fake Eiffel Tower, a fake Statue of Liberty, and a fake Venice. There is also a fountain, which is very calming.
Matthew sits on the edge of the fountain and I am there with a comment prepared about whether or not Indians typically made many marble statues. But then, there is someone else as is typical for Las Vegas, and I am not. "Hey buddy," he says to Matthew, "Hey buddy. Hey buddy." Matthew tries not to break eye contact with Ganesh until the man steps into his line of sight. Matthew wishes Ganesh was one of the ones with more than one head.
"Hey buddy," he says. He is wearing a puffy jacket, his human features obscured by the enormous nylon lumpiness. His hood is up and Matthew can only see his nose and his scraggety black beard. "Hey buddy listen buddy I need some help buddy." The thing with Vegas is that there are no victims of circumstance. If someone is poor in Vegas it is because of one or more bad decisions they have made. Matthew does not trust their sad stories, but that is something that is not specific to Vegas. So Matthew pretends to be deaf.
"Edd I can'd wead lipth of people wif beawds," he apologizes as he cranes his neck toward Ganesh.
