The Muses Of Ruin

The Muses of RuinSammie Leads Me into his casino and tells me to choose my table. Play is desultory at all of them; it is the middle of the Las Vegas dinner hour. The combo is serenading us with twangy country music: The harmonica and fiddle go into a wild hoedown finale and the kazoo rides after their medley like a posse of hornets.I know the table I want. Eddie Reilly, that melancholy old veteran of the Mississippi gambling boats, is on the stick, and Rick Douglas is one of the dealers. I don'...