Building down. -- Photo by Francis Nie from Unplash
A Modern Retelling of "Sodom and Gomorrah"
The Eclipse Grand Casino and Hotel had seen better days. Once a crown jewel on the Strip, its neon sign was now half-flickering, its grand buffet mostly consisted of frozen shrimp and limp lettuce, and its clientele was more coupon clippers than high rollers.
Still, General Manager Larry Morton — a man with too many ties and not enough sleep — kept the place running. There was no profit anymore, no bonuses, and a corporation about to pull the plug.
He believed he could boost the bottom line, and they could turn things around. To his surprise, one night, two high-profile "investors" showed up. It was rumored they were scouting casinos for a massive corporate buyout.
Larry was thrilled at the thought of the impact this would have. He gave them the penthouse suite, where they can investigate quietly, behind the scenes.
Larry, overly excited, called his twin daughters, who were just about finished at UNLV, asking them to come in and meet them. His daughters were about to graduate with a degree in marketing. So, yes, they were excited about a networking opportunity. There was only one problem with that: in his excitement, he failed to tell them not to say anything.
In their excitement about the possibility of new life in the casino and hotel, they started spreading the word on social media.
As one would expect, the word spread fast.
As it approached midnight, a group of curiosity seekers appeared. Those familiar coupon-clipping gamblers, other social influencers looking to increase their likes, hookers looking to land a nice payday, and sharks looking to cash in were all mobbing the lobby.
It was chaos, and crowd mentality took over. Someone shouted, "Bring them out and let's party!" The crowd started chanting, "Party… party… party!" Security did their best to push them back, but the crowd mentality prevailed.
Larry, realizing they could not control the situation, finally called Metro Police. Sirens wailed down the Strip. Officers in neon-yellow vests dispersed the crowd, shooing them out into the desert night. Larry's "golden opportunity" looked more like a PR disaster.
The next morning, the two high-profile investors told Larry to leave with his family. They told him that he has a job if he wouldn't mind working in Henderson.
In all the craziness, Larry realized that he had not called his wife. He grabbed his phone and speed dialed his wife. He carefully explained in detail the crazy night, and they will be there soon.
While Larry and his twins scurried home, corporate was already sharpening the axe. Between the mob incident, years of financial losses, and the broken ice machine on level three, the board decided: shut it down. The Eclipse Grand Casino and Hotel closed immediately.
It was a no-brainer for Larry; he accepted the job in Henderson.
Six months later, the building came down in a cloud of dust, professionally imploded — livestreamed on every Vegas news channel. The last neon sign to fall was the giant glowing "ECLI---" — sputtering out like the city's worst-kept secret.
Watching the building come down, struggling with their personal issues, Larry's wife made a difficult decision. One that had been building for a while, she told Larry, "You are married to your job more than me. The final straw was 24 hours with a dangerous mob scene, the police being called, and the shutdown, then you call me? I'm pretty much done. I have received a job offer far from here."
She left Larry and took the job offer… in Dubai.
Shortly after the implosion, his daughters graduated. The same corporation that gave dad the job in Henderson offered each of them jobs in marketing at different hotels of theirs.
As the last bits of the Eclipse Grand Casino and Hotel's history were loaded up into the trucks to be hauled to the dump, investors were already planning to rebuild on the vacant land.
The Strip barely noticed. Vegas rolled on, as it always does. What happens in Vegas… flickers out, then gets bulldozed for the next neon dream.
Based on Genesis 19:1-29
Synopsis
In the original story, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their rampant wickedness, sparing only Lot and his daughters. His wife looked back and turned to salt. This retelling swaps the ancient cities for a neon-soaked aging desert casino and hotel, warning how unchecked excess devours itself.
Tap to read the actual bible passage:
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah
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