Down in the elegant Pump Room, Ray ran into Merle Rideout and Chevrolette McAdoo, who were "out on the town," owing to a fortunate wager Merle had made earlier that day.
* * * * * * * * * *
In this bit, we see Ray move downward, both physically and socially, in the hotel. He has left the penthouse where the rich and entitled meet and moved about as far down as possible on every scale, metaphorical and physical, to arrive at the "Pump Room" with burlesque dancer Chevrolette and cuckolded raunchy Merle. Sure, the Pump Room might be elegant but if it lets in riff-raff like this, how exclusive a location can it actually be?
"a fortunate wager"
Gambling, of course, is practically the only way for a lower class American to garner enough wealth to even have a taste of a higher class life. It's the only economic movement realistically available to them because those running gambling rings understand the odds and they understand the habits of people desperate for better circumstances. So a few win while most lose. So what? They'll just blow it on some luxury to make their terribly hard lives somewhat better for a brief moment and then it'll be back to gambling. They have no recourse to making money through investment because all of the games are rigged to make more money for those who already have enough money and have gained power through their money. Better to have a nice night out than to have your money stolen by rich solicitors and financiers pretending to care about your investments.
Also, I wonder what the fortunate wager was?! Maybe we'll find out in a "Merle Section."
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