This was the third month in a row that I couldn’t pay the electric bill. The third month that my kids had to spend their time before bed in the dark.
What more can I do? I said to myself, quietly. I already worked two jobs, and my wife worked three!
At work the next day, my friend told me about a new casino that opened up just two miles up the road from work.
“Let’s check it out, man! I haven’t been to a casino in so long, and we haven’t been able to spend some time together. This will be good for us,” he said.
I wasn’t working tonight, so what could the harm be?
“Alight,” I said, “but, I’ll only bring 20 bucks with me. My kid’s need to eat, and I can’t afford to lose big.”
That night, I tucked my kids in bed and said goodbye to their wife. Or at least, attempted to.
“No! We can’t even afford to keep the lights on, why would you ever think it’s a good idea to gamble what little money we have!”
“It’ll be fine, I promise to only take 20 dollars with me, even if I lose it all, I won’t be losing much! And if I win, who knows how long we’d be able to support ourselves for!”
When I first walked into the Casino, I was astounded. I’ve never seen a place so big! I saw my friend at a game of poker and hopped in. Before I knew it, I had made 1000 dollars that night! Looked like my poker face wasn’t so bad after all.
I came home quick to tell my wife the good news, and she was just as excited as I was.
“Well, you’ve gotta go back, win us some more money! Maybe we can finally have Christmas again this year. This time, I want you to take all of this money and triple it. Do whatever you can,”she said.
“Hesitatingly, I took the money and went back. I had a great first game, and nearly doubled all the money I won!
“Maybe you wanna quit while you’re ahead” said my friend, nervously.
“No way, I want to surprise my wife and quadruple what I made last night. I’m staying!”
Just before my last game, a new player sat as the table. As the game continued, we were the only two left in. He smirked and shoved all his chips into the center “I’m all in” I knew I had a good hand, so of course, I had to match him. All I wanted was more: When he put his cards down, my mouth dropped. A full house! My cards couldn’t even complete.
And within a flash of a moment, over 2,000 dollars turned into nothing. All due to my greed.
Authors note: when I first read the story of the golden feathers, something made me think of it like gambling! With my story, I wanted to make both the husband and the wife have something to do with their loss of wealth.
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| Source: Pintrest |
Hi Ida! I liked that you wrote this story like a parable. Gambling is a serious issue, but you also highlighted the reason why a lot of people do it. Life can deal people some hard cards, so people will do questionable things to provide for their family out of desperation. I also like that you showed how temptation and high rewards can influence a person's decision too. The character came in with the best of intentions to provide for his family, but his giddiness and his earnings kept him from seeing how risky each game he played was. I was disappointed for the character whenever he lost all of his money, but it's also a realistic outcome. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIda,
ReplyDeleteI read that golden goose story just yesterday. It's the exact story I was thinking of while I read yours! That makes sense, since you effectively modernized the story. Gambling is the perfect parallel to that story! The guy could have just accepted the money that he had won- a thousand dollars from the twenty he started with? I'd take that deal. Yet, he got too greedy and lost it all. Your version also works well in showing that the family was no worse off than it was before- the husband only lost the money he had won.
Also, check out your spelling. I got a good laugh out of the husband tucking in the children and "their wife." An honest mistake, but it's definitely funny.
Hey Ida
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I can definitely see the gambling theme in the golden goose story now that you mention it. I think you do a good job of characterizing the characters enough to get the reader to care about them, but I think that you could add a sentence or two more of general description. This story is a little face-paced, and an extra description would help slow it down, as well as just make the story more engaging! Overall though, good story and good luck with the rest of the class!
Oh Ida,
ReplyDeleteThis story broke my heart. Also, I have corona on my mind right now, so I was thinking to myself, what casinos? We can only play online poker due to social distancing. How tragic. I wanted to yell at the person, “ALWAYS STOP WHEN YOU’RE AHEAD! It’s the number one rule,” but they wouldn’t have heard me. I was pleasantly surprised with the self-reflection at the end.
This kind of stuff happens all. the. time. I know how much of a problem it is and how negative of an impact it can have on families and people addicted to gambling. Not that I've experienced it, but I know people that used to. It's sad to think how greedy people can get when they have something really good, but I also understand how difficult it might be to not think that way. And this isn't with just money either! Thanks for the story, Ida! It had me reflect a little bit on my own life and anything I might be greedy over ;-)
ReplyDelete