The Greatest Gamble

Bet Two

Thomas is laughing his ass off as we enter my car. "No way in hell you go through with this dude!"

"Eradicating 180 dollars worth of debt AND getting an extra 10 on top of that? There isn't a doubt in my mind that YOU are the loser in this situation." I buckle up and reverse out of my park. "What were you doing here anyway?"

"My parents wanted me to pick up some last-minute items for the apartment."

"Furnished?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

"Yeah, but sharing a living space with your twin sister? Not worth."

I laugh a little. "Tera is here too?"

"She started last year while we were fucking off and trying to save up money."

"Yeah, that didn't go too well." We lost all of what we saved during poker night before our send-off.

We both bow our heads in remembrance and pay respects to the $10,500 we made and lost in the one year we shared.

Bagging those groceries was worth it to afford the $50 buy-in fee every Wednesday night! We won more times than we lost, so we figured why not do a full send? We quickly found out why. You lose it all.

We look back up and out the windshield of my car, pushing the regret down.

"Will your parents not be worried?" I ask finally looking at him again.

"I'll shoot them a text."

I roll my eyes and continue on the road.

Our destination was actually a lot closer than I remember it being, and the closer we got, the more nervous I felt. The "HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF" sign is more visible, and my palms start to sweat. I could see the holes in his shirt and jeans. I also noticed he had no shoes, and his facial hair covered about 50% of his face. The hair on his head covered another 40%.

"How do we know he's not a deranged lunatic?" I whisper, paranoid that he could hear me.

"You can back out whenever you--"

"That's not what I said!" I cut him off. Thomas' comment helped me remember that I was more afraid of losing money than what might happen to me. I put on my hazards and pull up to the curb beside the homeless man. He slowly walks over to my car and approaches my side. I take a deep breath and roll down my window. "Sorry to say I don't have money for you."

He stares at me in silence.

"But! But I would, if it's cool with you, like to offer you a place to stay tonight and a warm meal."

Thomas is doing a shitty job holding back his laughter.

"Why..." the man finally speaks up hesitantly. "Why are you doing this?"

"I feel bad about passing you up earlier and not offering you anything," I say, which is half true.

We hold eye contact for a prolonged period until he finally nods. "If you're sure you don't mind a smelly guy like me," he partially laughs getting in my back seat.

He doesn't seem like a killer. "With a sign as funny as that, I can't smell anything!"

He holds his smile. "Thanks."

"Don't you want to get any of your stuff?" I ask as he closes the door.

"It's only for a night, and I figure one of the other guys on this block can use my tent tonight since I'll be sleeping on my very own air mattress!" he exclaims happily lifting it off the seat next to him.