This Game Of Chance (standard:humor, 1061 words)
Author: Reid Laurence	Added: Apr 19 2006	Views/Reads: 3374/2063	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Is global warming fact or fiction? An important consideration, or a minor problem that will heal itself and go away?

"Come here and warm your hands by the fire, Mary. Isn't it great!? This
is liv'in!" 

"Hold on a minute. I'll be right there," replied my wife, in an anxious
tone. "You could help me get the snow off Solomon's feet you know. He's 
gonna get the carpet all wet." 

"Alright, I can do that," I said. "If you promise me you'll sit by the
fire for a few minutes. You don't wanna get frost bite, do ya? Yer 
fingers an toes get all green an fall off an junk. It's gross." 

"If you stop bugging me about the fire and tend to your dog here, I can
go get you your birthday present. It's in the bedroom closet." 

"God, I can't believe it's my birthday already. Another July's passing
by like sand through an hourglass. How quickly time flies." 

"Here we are," said Mary, on her way back to the living room. "Open it
up. The excitement's killing me." 

"Oh boy!" I remarked, as I removed the lid from the top of the box.
"Just what the doctor ordered! Gloves with a matching hat! I'll be snug 
as a bug in a rug. Thanks babe," I said, as I embraced my thoughtful 
mate and kissed her cold, red, blushing cheek. 

"That's not all I got you, either," she said. "Go check out the truck!" 

"Oh boy!" I exclaimed. "Did'ja get me the new, twenty speaker, remote
controlled, eight-hundred channel Boose sound system with auto scan, 
seek, lock an load, or am I just dreaming?" 

"Go an see," replied my better half. "It's yer birthday. I had ta get
you something nice, didn't I? It only comes but once a year." 

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed, when I laid eyes on my new eight ton, Stoodge
Rammit pick-up, standing idle in its parking space with its roof just 
touching the bottom of the garage framing. I couldn't believe it when I 
saw the beautiful, chrome, thirty inch, spinning wheels Mary bought me. 
Kneeling, I could see myself in the bright shiny metal and for a 
moment, I forgot about the eighteen inches of snow we'd gotten the day 
before, due to sudden and dramatic changes in climate. Touching the 
polished hub, I pushed on it with two fingers and watched it spin like 
a Las Vegas roulette wheel. Reminded of the game of chance, I wondered 
where and when the wheel would stop and in what position. Does it 
matter? I thought to myself. Who cares, anyway? 

Getting in, I started up the massive V18 engine and with the roar of a
caged beast, It suddenly came to life. 

The new Boose sound system replaced the old, factory installed unit just
as I'd expected Mary to do, and when I touched it's blank, dark face 
plate, a score of multicolor lights came on, illuminating the interior 
of the truck like fire flies on a warm summer night. Nights, the likes 
of which I'd enjoyed as a boy, but now it seemed, may be lost and gone 
forever. Since the new ice age had suddenly struck the planet, I didn't 
expect to see any more of the summer nights I'd known in the past. 
Those were just a bunch of fond memories in the back of my mind, like 
my first bike or the catchers mitt my father bought me when I was a 
kid. 

The sound of the stereo was the most incredible thing I'd ever heard.
After all, I thought. Ten thousand watts outta sound pretty good, 
shouldn't it? But just as I was learning how to scan for channels, Mary 
walked into the garage to tell me she had to go food shopping and 
jarred me back to more of the world's real life, immediate concerns. 

"I'm glad you like yer new stuff, but I've gotta get to the store or we
won't eat dinner tonight." 

"Okay, okay," I muttered, grudgingly handing over the keys to my
powerful new, band-on-wheels. "Here," I added. "You'll need some money. 
Take this. It's my last hundred bucks." 

"Super," replied Mary. "But the truck needs gas and at twenty-five bucks
a gallon, that's not gonna get me very far." 


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