Peter and Liz were watching TV on the futon. Neither of them had much to say; they had already exhausted much of their conversation. Peter was content watching TV in silence, but Liz decided to force it.

“So, where’s Walter been?” asked Liz.

“I assume he’s still in the library,” said Peter. “He’s got that paper to finish.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember you saying that earlier,” said Liz.

“Yep.”

Peter and Liz continued watching TV, and even Peter was starting to get bored.

“What do you want to do tonight?” asked Peter.

“I don’t know,” said Liz. “We could go gambling.”

“Gambling?” said Peter. “Where?”

“Oklahoma,” stated Liz.

“Oklahoma?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know,” stated Peter. “I don’t really feel like driving all the way out there.”

“All right. Well, we could rent a movie maybe,” said Liz.

“Maybe.”

Just then Walter busted through the door. “I’m done!” he announced.

“You finished your paper?” said Liz.

Walter nodded enthusiastically as he gently placed his backpack on Peter’s chair.

“Good,” said Liz.

“I know, I’m excited,” said Walter. “Now what d’ya got for me? What are we doing tonight?

“I don’t . . .,” said Liz. “There’s not much going on tonight. We were thinking about possibly getting a movie.”

“Renting a movie?” said Walter. “C’mon, that’s weak. Any other ideas?”

“We could go to the WinStar in Oklahoma to go gambling,” suggested Peter.

“There we go. Now we’re thinking,” said Walter. He turned around to leave in haste but had to catch himself, realizing he had not revealed his thought process to Peter and Liz. “I’ll get my car. Meet me outside in five minutes.”

Walter grabbed his backpack and quickly left the room.

Liz turned to Peter and looked at him slightly annoyed: “Gambling, huh?”

Peter shrugged. “Could be fun.”

Five minutes later, Peter and Liz climbed into the back of Walter’s truck.

“Y’all ready to go?” asked Walter.

“Yeah,” said Liz. “Can I move your backpack?”

“Sure,” said Walter. “I’ll take it up here.”

“Do we need to stop for gas?” asked Peter.

“Yep, but were not stopping for any until we’re well on our way,” stated Walter. “If we stop now, we’ll start to second guess the sanity of our excursion to Oklahoma, and that’s not what we need right now.”

Walter put his foot on the gas and took off down the road. On the floor in the backseat, Liz looked down to see a few bound pieces of paper. She picked it up”Hey, Walter, what’s this?” she asked, holding up the paper.

“Oh, I picked that up in front of Hughes-Trigg. It’s a new satire magazine. Some guys were passing out copies, or more forcing them on us,” stated Walter. “It’s pretty good though. I mean, I might have done things a bit differently, but you’ve got to give ’em credit for trying.”

“Let me see that,” said Peter, reaching for the magazine. He looked at the front page and chuckled. “A penis joke right off the bat, huh?”

“Yeah, you would like that,” said Walter. “It’s not bad though. A little ‘hit or miss’ but not bad.”

“Do you mind if I take this?” asked Peter. “I’d like to give it a read.”

“No way, man,” exclaimed Walter. “I still haven’t finished it. Besides, they have a Web site.”

“Oh, yeah. What is it?” asked Peter.

“It’s on there, I believe,” said Walter, pointing at the paper.

“Ah, screw it, I’ll just read it now,” said Peter.

After an hour on the road and a quick stop for gas, Walter noticed many bright lights sneak over the horizon. “Is that it?” he asked.

Peter and Liz peered out the window and noticed the lights as well. “It’s gotta be,” said Peter.

“Yeah, what else could those lights possibly be coming from?” questioned Liz.

Then two signs on the side of the road confirmed their inkling: ‘Now entering Oklahoma!’ and ‘WinStar Casino next right.’

“You know what’s gonna be awesome?” said Walter. “Tomorrow, when people ask what we did last night, we can tell ’em we went to a different state.”

Peter and Liz laughed. They were giddy with excitement.

As they pulled up in front of the casino, they saw a car pull out of a parking spot right near the entrance. “Wow, good luck,” said Liz. It was the best they would have all night.

Their first stop of the night was at the black jack tables. Peter had some luck, but the others did not. But at least they held on to most of their money unlike the young cowboy to their left who ended up betting and losing $285 on his first hand.

Next, they tried out the slots. To them this was much more fun and much more relaxing. They knew that the odds were completely stacked against them, but sitting next to each other and hitting the various bonuses and extra spins was great fun.

At the end of the night, they had gambled away all of the money that they had set aside for the occasion, but, as Liz put it, “It’s not really gambling if you expect to lose it.” Indeed.

As Peter, Liz and Walter walked back out of the casino toward Walter’s truck, they laughed and recounted their experiences. They had really enjoyed their time, despite the expense. And since it was just barely midnight, they were glad to know it would not be too late when they got back.

When Peter and Liz were about to climb in the back of Walter’s truck though, Walter stopped them. “Actually, I need you to drive,” said Walter to Peter.

“What?” said Peter.

“I need you to drive,” repeated Walter. “I’m not entirely done with my paper that’s due tomorrow. I still have to write the conclusion.”

“All right,” said Peter, changing the back seat for the driver’s.

“Do you mind if I sit up front as well?” asked Liz.

“No, not at all,” said Walter. “I’ll be working.”

The drive back was much quieter with Walter working in the back seat though Peter and Liz now had plenty to talk about. There’s nothing like a good adventure to spark conversation.

As Peter pulled back onto campus and into a parking spot, Walter wrapped up his essay. It was perfect timing. “Thanks for driving back, man,” said Walter. “And great suggestion-the casino was a perfect idea.”

“Actually it was Liz’s,” said Peter.

“Oh, really. In that case, great idea, Liz,” said Walter.

“Thank you,” said Liz. “And thank you for inspiring Peter to get off his lazy butt.

“But you know what, I’m kinda sad too. This is probably the last thing we’re going to get to do together before break. I mean we’ll do things like hang out, but with finals coming up this was kind of like our last hurrah.”

“You know, you might be right,” agreed Peter.

“It’s a good thing we made the most of it then; Oklahoma was a blast!” said Walter. “Well, I’ll see y’all later. I need to get some sleep since we have only one reading day this semester. If I don’t see ya-since finals are certainly a busy time-take care.”