In Florida: Filling the Hours with Bingo !

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On this Saturday afternoon, after Steve has led his conga line down the aisle, tossing dollar bills into the air, and after he and his lavender tuxedo have disappeared, the parlor quiets down so the p.a.-system announcer can call out numbers. Sherry Levitz, the bus coordinator for "Sherry's Bus People," sits at her table with the little SHERRY'S banner and concentrates on her bingo card. "Oh, I just love to dab," she says, dabbing out numbers with a pink Magic Marker. Then she begins to hum, "22 . . . 22 . . . 22. Come on, 22 . . ." She is a pretty woman in her late 40s, with orange hair, a ruby red satin blouse and white slacks. "Oh, I love to play," she says. "Yes, sir, I never miss a game. I won a $16,000 Mustang convertible a year ago. Drove it right outta here the same day. It started raining halfway home, and I didn't even know how to put the top up." That's one of the satisfactions of playing at Big Cypress, she explains. Instant gratification. "I'm gonna win that Lincoln," she says, thinking of the next week's prize. "I'm gonna trade my Mustang up on that big Lincoln in a minute, baby."

A voice calls out, "Bingo!" Cowbells clang. A woman in her late 50s scurries toward the podium in the center of the room. She looks embarrassed. An Indian girl hands her a fistful of dollar bills. The woman rushes back to her table and almost before she does, the p.a.-system announcer is calling out numbers again. Steve Blad, leaning against the podium, watches.

"Bingo?" he says. "It's boring to me. I wouldn't do it. But they love it. And I love them. You know, this one magazine did a story about me and / described how at the end of the day I walked off to my big Jaguar in the parking lot, and all these people went to their buses with no money in their pockets." Steve grins his lopsided grin. "But they was happy, you know."