20 Vegas, Baby!

Chapter 20 VEGAS, BABY! When she didn't hear any hooting and hollering from the backseat, Mrs. McDonald turned around to look behind her. "Coke, aren't you going to shout 'Woo-hoo!' and share some Nevada trivia with us?" she asked. "Woo-hoo," he mumbled, with a total lack of enthusiasm. "What's the matter, son?" Dr. McDonald asked. "Not feeling well?" In fact, Coke wasn't feeling well at all. Thanks to the incident at Hoover Dam— combined with all the other incidents—he was beginning to show classic signs of depression, or maybe learned helplessness. It had finally sunk in with Coke—this is what life was going to be like from now on. Every couple of days, some

nutcase would do something horrible to him and his sister. So far, he and Pep had been lucky. But eventually, one of these attempts on their lives was likely to succeed. It was only a matter of time. They would be dead and Dr. Warsaw would probably kill thousands more with his bomb. That thought would depress anybody. Besides, there was no reason to hoot and holler about entering Nevada. This was not the family's first visit to the state. They'd crossed northern Nevada when they were heading east at the beginning of their trip. Now they were at the southernmost tip of the state on their way back home. Coke continued to feel glum as the Ferrari headed west on Route 93, also known as The Great Basin Highway. More rocks. More desert. Miles and miles of nothingness. The sun was starting to set, yet the temperature was still close to triple digits. But then, not more than a half hour after

leaving Hoover Dam, signs of civilization started to pop up here and there. At first they were just gas stations and warehouses. But very soon the signs became larger, brighter, and more colorful. The architecture became flashier. Dr. and Mrs. McDonald knew which city they were approaching, but had decided to surprise the kids. Coke's mood perked up when he spotted this sign.... "Woo-hoo!" he shouted. "Vegas, baby!" After driving through the desert for almost a week, it was somewhat of a culture shock to see downtown Las Vegas. Everyone was craning their necks as they drove through "the Strip"— four dizzying miles of gigantic hotels, palm

trees, flashing lights and signs, wild colors, souvenir shops, magic shows, strange-looking people, and of course, casino after casino. Most people don't know that the Strip is not in the city limits of Las Vegas itself. It's actually in the towns of Winchester and Paradise. Mrs. McDonald was in paradise herself. She didn't even have to look in her Nevada guidebook to find quirky places to visit in Las Vegas. All she had to do was look out the window.... The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime. The Houdini Museum. The Pinball Museum and Hall of Fame. The Elvis-A-Rama Museum. The Neon Museum. There were replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. A dancing waters fountain show outside the Bellagio Hotel. The largest gold nugget in the world was at the Golden Nugget Hotel (of course). There was a real roller coaster on top of the New York–New York hotel. And if you wanted to see a chunk of the Berlin Wall, you

could come to Las Vegas. In this one town, Mrs. McDonald would be able to gather a year's worth of material for Amazing but True. Even Dr. McDonald was fascinated, especially when he drove past the National Atomic Testing Museum on East Flamingo Road. He had been thinking about his book idea, and this would be a great place to do research. "This town is cool!" Coke said. "Can we live here?" "For two nights you can," said Dr. McDonald as he pulled into the Mirage, one of the larger hotels on the Strip. He handed the car keys to the valet and went to check in at the front desk. All the hotels in Las Vegas are also casinos, and the twins had never been in one before. Once they walked through the front door, there were hundreds of slot machines all over, clinking and buzzing and flashing to attract customers. "Can we try one?" Coke asked his parents. "It says they're only a dollar."

"Kids aren't allowed to gamble," Dr. McDonald told him. "You have to be eighteen before you can throw your money away." It was getting late, so rather than go out and search for a place to eat, their parents decided to stay in the hotel. There are twelve—yes twelve —restaurants in the Mirage. Mrs. McDonald chose Paradise Café, which specialized in "exotic drinks and light fare." Not too fancy. During dinner, Dr. McDonald kept looking at his watch as if he had to go somewhere. The waiter brought the check a few minutes before eight o'clock. "Follow me," their father abruptly told the twins. "I want to show you something." The whole family followed him out to the front of the hotel, where a crowd was forming. "What's going on?" Pep asked. "You'll see," her father replied. The crowd had gathered around a big mountain of rocks. Well, fake rocks, anyway. They were probably made of plastic, like just