her hands trembled as she spoke. her eyes flickered occasionally upwards from the crimson and royal blue coloured carpet that ran under her feet and through the lobby, spotted with semi-comfortable sofa chairs and plastic looking pot plants. it was early morning, about 5.30m, so there were very few people to be seen. in fact the only people present were Elissa, a half asleep doorman and a drunk guest who appeared to have missed a semi-comfortable chair and had remained on the floor leaning against it in a swaying state. Elissa pushed the phone booth's little privacy wall to stop her free hand from shaking as she listened intently to the person on the other side. she barely got to say goodbye as they hung up, left still holding the receiver in a hand that had turned from jelly to stone, frozen in the moment. it took her a full minute to pull it from her ear and hang up, causing her spare change to clatter down the chute, but she didn't bother retrieving it. She was jet lagged and depressed, so decided to return to her room for some needed sleep. The spare change however, would be found an hour and twenty-three minutes later by a young gentleman after calling the hospital his dying father was staying at, and be used to tip the doorman as he left to comfort his mother. The doorman would then lose it on one of the pokie-machines, spinning a cherry, a seven and a gold bar. Sitting in the pot for no more than three hours and forty-six minutes, a passing child would win it along with another $40.85. These winnings would be gluttonously spent on chocolates and sweets, devouring them in one sitting, the experience leaving the child feeling slightly nauseated every time he gambled in the future. Elissa noticed the boy throwing up into one of the plastic looking pot plants as she was about
the leave for the hospital. She handed him a napkin with calm hands and walked off, hopefully towards good news.