The Ones That Got Away

by Lou Mindar

  The odds for the 1985 World Series came out in March. Oddsmakers gave the Kansas City Royals a 10-to-1 chance to win the World Series. The odds weren’t quite as high as they had been for Detroit, but Scott knew the Royals would win it all, so he placed three bets. The first two were with Earl and Frankie, the local bookies. In addition, he flew to Las Vegas and placed $50,000 on the Royals.

  Randy sold The Surf Club in May and joined Scott in the property development business. With Randy’s money and the money Scott made selling the University City condos, they bought a few more properties.

  In September, Scott and Melanie married. It was a beautiful affair held in Belleville, near Melanie’s parent’s home. Melanie and her mother made most of the wedding plans. Scott became increasingly busy at his business and left the details of the wedding to Melanie. That was fine with her. She had a specific idea of what she wanted the wedding to be, and she didn’t want Scott in the way.

  When the Royals beat the Cardinals in the World Series that October, Scott was in line for another big pay day, pocketing more than a half-a-million dollars. The two local bookies both congratulated Scott when he collected his winnings, then told him they couldn’t take any more of his bets. Scott understood.

  Scott and Randy flew to Las Vegas to collect on Scott’s bet there. They stayed a couple of days and gave back a little bit of Scott’s winnings at the blackjack tables.

  On the way back, Scott sprung for first class seats. He and Randy were enjoying the complimentary drinks when Randy said, “You have got to be the luckiest guy in the world.”

  The comment caught Scott off guard. “Why? What do you mean?”

  “I thought you were nuts last year when you made that bet on the Tigers, but it ended up paying off,” he said. “Almost no one wins those bets because you can’t be sure how a team is going to perform or who might get injured. But you didn’t just do it last year. Now you’ve done it two years in a row. If that’s not luck, I don’t know what is.”

  Scott squirmed in his seat. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “But that’s the thing,” Randy said. “It really doesn’t seem like luck. You seemed so sure of both bets. Like you knew what was going to happen before it happened.”

  “How could I know before it actually happened?” Scott laughed uncomfortably.

  “I don’t know, but next time you make a bet, I want in on the action,” Randy said. “I don’t know if it’s luck or instincts or a premonition, but you’ve got a gift and I want to profit from it.”

  Scott sipped his drink and relaxed into the seat. “I might not win next time. My luck might be running out.”

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “Next time you decide to bet, I want in.”

  “Alright, if you insist.” Scott smiled.

  “Stewardess.” Randy held up his empty beer bottle. “My extremely lucky friend and I would like another drink.”

  Randy didn’t have to wait very long. The 1985 National Football League season was all about Scott’s hometown Chicago Bears. Scott knew that the Bears would win fifteen of sixteen games, losing only to the Miami Dolphins. What he didn’t know was whether the Bears had covered the spread in those games, so betting on individual games was out. However, he had no doubt that the Bears would make it to the Super Bowl, and they’d crush the New England Patriots on their way to one of the most lop-sided victories in Super Bowl history.

  Unlike the bets he had made on the two previous World Series winners, the best Scott and Randy could do on a Super Bowl bet was to double their money. It would have to do.

  They flew to Las Vegas the week before the Super Bowl and each placed $25,000 on the Bears to win the game and cover the spread. The Bears were a ten-point favorite, but they won the game 46-10. Relatively speaking, it was a small bet for Scott, but Randy was thrilled with the results and looked forward to future bets.

  Chapter 20

  June 1986

  Scott looked across the table at his wife. She cooked a special dinner for them and said she had something she wanted to discuss. Instead, she ate and wasn’t talking at all.

  “I don’t mean to push you, but you said there was something you wanted to talk about,” Scott said.

  Melanie nodded but kept eating.

  “Did you want to talk about it now?”

  “When we’re done eating.” Melanie returned to her food.

  Melanie’s reluctance to talk made Scott all the more curious. He assumed she had good news for him. He guessed she had been promoted or had gotten a bonus. But she was too serious and somber for that. Maybe one of her parents was sick. Or, heaven forbid, maybe she was sick. Scott ate his meal as quickly as he could. He pushed his chair away from the table, leaned back and crossed his legs. Melanie stared at him.

  “Ready to talk?”

  “I’m. . .” Melanie stopped and seemed to regather her thoughts. “I have some bad, well, not bad news. I have some news.”

  Scott waited, but Melanie was quiet. That was unlike her. Melanie never had trouble talking. “What’s wrong, Mel?”

  Melanie’s eyes teared, and she dabbed them with her napkin. “I’m sorry, Scott. I’m pregnant.” As she said the words, she cried in earnest.

  Scott walked around the table to Melanie. He hugged her until she stopped crying.

  “Are you mad?” she asked.

  “No. Of course not. Why would I be mad?”

  “It’s just, the timing. Things are just starting to take off for you and Randy.”

  “This is the best news you could have given me.” He kissed her, and for the first time all evening, Melanie seemed to relax.

  “Really? You want this? I mean, right now?”

  “Absolutely.” Scott laughed. “We’re going to have a baby.”

  They agreed they needed to get a house where they could raise a family. The apartment had served them well, but it was time. After several weeks, they found a beautiful home on five acres in Chesterfield, west of St. Louis.

  Scott and Randy had been working out of Scott’s apartment, but they agreed it was time to get a home for their growing business. It was also time to hire employees. Scott and Randy had done all the work until that point. They were so busy that they were missing out on opportunities. In addition to buying and rehabbing apartment buildings, they had started buying and selling raw land and commercial properties. And they had expanded their reach beyond St. Louis to anywhere in the country where there was opportunity. But there was only so much the two of them alone could do.

  The office building they found was in Creve Couer, a growing area in west St. Louis County. It was larger than they needed.

  “That’s a lot of money for a building that’s so much bigger than we need,” Randy said.

  “What if we put our offices on one floor and rent out the other three floors? The rent will help pay our note until we get big enough to take over more of the building.”

  “It is a nice building,” Randy said. They signed the contract that afternoon.

  In March, the odds for the 1986 World Series were announced, but Scott wasn’t interested. He was too busy with his new home, his growing business, and a pregnant wife who seemed to have morning sickness every morning. Randy was ready to place another bet. Neither he nor Randy needed the money, so Scott told him that he didn’t have a good feel for who would win the World Series, even though he knew the Mets would beat the Red Sox. Scott felt guilty lying to his friend, but he knew if he told Randy who to bet on, Randy would insist that Scott go with him to Vegas to place a bet. Scott didn’t want to do that. Randy was disappointed, but what could he do? He wasn’t willing to place a bet if Scott didn’t feel good about it.

  Melanie gave birth to a baby boy in November. They named him Robert Allen Thompson. Robert was Melanie’s dad’s name, Allen was Scott’s. They called him Robbie.

  Robbie was the first child Scott fathered in two lifetimes. He would sit quietly and stare at his son as he lay sleeping in the crib. He thought abo
ut teaching the boy to throw a baseball or climb a tree or ride a bike. All those things were down the road. Even so, Scott bought Robbie a baseball mitt on the day he was born and kept it near the crib where his son could see it.

  After initially spending time at home following his son’s birth, Scott spent more and more time at the office. They were hiring new employees and taking on more properties. He’d routinely spend ten or twelve hours a day in the office.

  “Why do you feel the need to spend so much time working?” Randy asked. “Things are going well for us. Why do you always push so hard?”

  Scott knew from his partner’s tone that he was frustrated, not angry. Randy had always been the type of guy that put having a good time at the top of his list of priorities. Working ten or twelve hours a day didn’t leave him with much time to enjoy his life.

  Scott understood Randy’s frustration, but to Scott, work was what gave meaning and purpose to life.

  “You’re right, things are going well for us, but I don’t want to take that for granted,” Scott said. “The better we do, the more concerned I am that things are going to fall apart. So, I feel the need to work even harder, to put in even more time.”

  “I enjoy the work we do here,” Randy said. “I really do. But I want to spend time enjoying the money we’re making. I’d like to take a day off now and then. I’d like to spend more time with Carla. But I don’t feel I can do any of those things without disappointing you. And I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  Scott was touched by Randy’s sentiments. “Don’t worry about disappointing me,” Scott said. “The business will survive, and I’ll survive even if you aren’t in the office as much. Take some time off. Spend time with Carla. You deserve to enjoy your success.”

  Scott believed everything he said, but for some reason, it only applied to Randy. Their conversation changed nothing for Scott. In the back of his mind, he felt like he could work a little harder and a little longer each day to make up for Randy’s time away from the office.

  That summer, Randy took a couple of weeks off for vacation. He also took off early several Fridays so he could spend long weekends with Carla at their cabin on Lake of the Ozarks. When he returned from his time away, Scott could see his business partner had more energy and more excitement for the business and for life. It made Scott think about taking time off to get away with his family, but he didn’t.

  Chapter 21

  March 1987

  It was no surprise that Randy and Carla wanted to do something different for their wedding. A church with a reception at a hotel was far too conventional. They opted for a wedding and reception on the beach in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, followed by a honeymoon on St. John. Randy and Carla insisted that Scott and Melanie stay after the wedding and join them for a week on St. John. They arranged to have two beach cottages next to each other.

  Scott didn’t want to stay away from the office, especially since Randy would be gone, but Randy and Carla were his and Melanie’s best friends. He wanted to make their wedding exactly what they wanted it to be. Plus, Melanie spent the previous year fixing up her family’s new home and taking care of Robbie. She was excited for the opportunity to get away from home, get away from the cold, and spend some time in the tropics.

  A few days after the wedding, Scott and Melanie had the day to themselves. They walked along the white sand beach, holding hands and talking. The turquoise sea was calm, waves gently lapping at their feet. Several sailboats sat at anchorage in the calm bay. Down the beach, they saw a man in a folding chair, surrounded by kayaks.

  “Remember how much we enjoyed kayaking up in Michigan?” Scott asked.

  Melanie squeezed Scott’s hand. “Want to go again? We should see if that guy up there rents the kayaks.”

  When they reached the man, there was no sign or other indication that he rented kayaks. Yet, there he sat, by himself, with six or eight kayaks.

  “Do you rent these,” Scott asked, pointing to the kayaks.

  “Twenty dollars for four hours or thirty-five for all day.” The man had a big belly and a Boston accent.

  Scott looked at Melanie then back at the man. “We’ll take two.”

  “For four hours,” Melanie added.

  “Help yourself.” The man gestured toward the kayaks with his thumb. “Be sure to grab a paddle.”

  “Should we grab PFDs, too,” Melanie asked.

  The man tilted his head and squinted at Melanie’s question.

  “Life jackets,” she said.

  “Sure,” the man said. “If I’m not around when you come back, just leave everything here.”

  In the bay, they maneuvered past colorful sailboats. People sat on the deck of a few of the boats, but most appeared empty.

  “Look at this water,” Melanie said. “It’s so clear you can see the bottom.”

  Scott stopped paddling and stared into the water. He saw the sand bottom as well as small fish. “This is really cool.”

  They paddled slowly out to the tip of the island, and then just beyond where there was a large sandbar barely rising above the water. When they got there, they beached their kayaks. From the sandbar, they saw all the sailboats in the bay, the white sand beach, and the island beyond. It was beautiful.

  “Let’s stay here and swim,” Melanie said.

  The Caribbean Sea was warm and relaxing. Scott floated on his back and closed his eyes. It was the first time since they had been in the islands that he had truly relaxed. He felt something brush his arm. Melanie floated next to him.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Melanie said.

  Scott found his wife’s hand and held it. “What’s that?”

  “Do you still want me to quit my job so I can stay home with Robbie?”

  Scott found the bottom and stood, water up to his chest. He had encouraged Melanie to quit her job on several occasions, but he finally gave up. “Yes, I do. I mean, if that’s what you want.”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I think I’d like to stay home,” Melanie said. She, too, stood and was facing him.

  Scott wrapped his arms around Melanie’s mid-section and pulled her closer. He kissed her and felt the old passion they had shared in college. Maybe having Melanie home could bring the passion back for good.

  *

  A few days after returning from the Virgin Islands, Scott and Randy flew off to Las Vegas to place their bets on the 1987 World Series. Randy was excited to be placing another bet, but Scott was excited because he knew how long the odds were going to be on the eventual winner, the Minnesota Twins. The Twins had not been very good the previous year, finishing the season with twenty more losses than victories. Not much was expected out of them in 1987, so the odds of them winning the World Series were set at 500-to-1. Randy and Scott each bet $10,000.

  When Scott got home, the table was set and candles were lit. Melanie had her hair done, and was wearing a dress, something she usually reserved for more formal functions.

  “Wow, what’s the occasion?” Scott asked.

  Melanie ignored the question. “I made rib eye steaks on the grill, shrimp kabobs, and I have ice cream cake for dessert. Shall we eat?”

  “Even ice cream cake,” Scott said. “Did you wreck the car?”

  Melanie laughed, but quickly regained her more formal tone. “Have a seat. I’ll bring out your dinner.”

  Melanie served the steak and shrimp, then sat to eat her own. When they finished, she brought out the ice cream cake, Scott’s favorite dessert, and cut a large piece for him.

  “Do we have to finish dessert before you can tell me your news? You’re starting to make me nervous.”

  “I can tell you now,” Melanie said. Her smile seemed to light up her whole body. “We’re going to have another baby.”

  Scott’s eyes grew wide. “Robbie’s not even a year old yet.”

  “I don’t think that matters as far as me getting pregnant again.”

  “I suppose not. Wow, another ba
by,” Scott said. Tears filled his eyes. “Mel, that’s wonderful.”

  Melanie stood and walked toward Scott. “Are you sure you’re happy about having another baby so soon?”

  “Of course,” Scott said. “This is great news.”

  “I was worried it would be too soon. But maybe it’s better having them close together. Maybe they’ll be closer and have more in common…” Melanie was rambling

  When Scott hushed her, tears flowed down her cheeks. “I’m scared,” she said.

  “Why? You’re a wonderful mother and we’ve always talked about having two or three kids. This is just a little sooner than we expected. But everything is going to be fine.”

  Melanie nodded, but kept crying. “I’m scared,” she said again, crossing her arms and hugging herself. “This isn’t good.”

  Scott stood and hugged his wife. “Of course, it’s good, Mel. Why wouldn’t it be?”

  Melanie leaned into him and began crying harder.

  Oh boy, nine more months of uncontrolled hormones, Scott thought.

  Chapter 21

  August 1987

  Scott got up early and went into work. Because it was Saturday, he knew the office would be quiet. Paperwork had piled up on his desk, and he wanted to go through it before the next week and the rush of paperwork started all over again. He worked through lunch, and by three o’clock he was caught up.

  Robbie was crying when Scott walked in the house. Scott called for Melanie. She didn’t answer. He ran upstairs toward the crying child and picked him up from the crib. He rubbed his son’s back as he carried him down to the kitchen to make a bottle for him. The bottle quieted Robbie, and Scott cradled him as he searched for Melanie. He found her, lying on the couch, fast asleep.

  “Melanie.” He gently shook her shoulder. “Melanie, wake up.” He used a little more force. “Melanie.” He checked her pulse with his free hand. There was a pulse, but no matter how many times he shook her, she wouldn’t wake. He dialed 911.