Good Luck to the Corpse

RED FOR LUCK The little man scuttled up to the roulette table. He looked shrunken and sick. He placed twenty thousand on red. The croupier spun the wheel, then dropped the little white ball. It raced around the wheel, slowed, and dropped-red. The little man sat unmoving as the chips piled up on the green felt. He left them all on red. Red came up again, and the crowd pressed close to him. Then again-and again, and the crowd watched intently as his winnings doubled each time. Once more the wheel turned and the ball hovered...then cropped-once more on red. Then the little man jerked. His head dropped to the table and his hands shot out around the fortune he had won. A loud voice sounded in the still room. "I don't want to cast a gloom over these proceedings, but I thing that man is dead."