• Four people sat in corresponding recliners, all facing each other, not averting each of their eyes from those of the others.
    One of them wore an expensive Armani suit and matching fedora. His overall appearance was interrupted by a shiny, jewel encrusted bracelet he wore on his wrist which bore three charms. The charms read: hope, love, faith.
    The one directly across from the one with the bracelet was a young woman, early twenties perhaps. He had an overall dark wardrobe, red dyed hair, and the word “disappointment” tattooed on her wrist. She wore a leather necklace with a bronze pendant that read “Ram” in Japanese kanji.
    The person whom sat in the recliner directly to the right of the one with the ram necklace was an older man, dressed in the garb of a bishop. He had a white robe and miter. He had an aged face and golden wedding band on the ring finger of his right hand.
    The last one in the circle was a girl, about the same age as the previous one, but in colorful, cheery clothes. Her hair was bright orange with a headband pulling it back. She wore a necklace with a gold and sapphire pendant in the shape of a heart.
    “Okay,” began the one with the bracelet, “you al know the rules.” He looked at the clock in the back of the room. “We will begin right… now.”
    Somewhere far away, a lone woman drove her car down the highway in the dead of night. She skipped through her radio, and turned it off. Driving at night was easy. There were rarely traffic cops or congestion.
    She was anxious. She headed for the local airport to meet her boyfriend. They were going on a romantic trip to Venice, Italy. As far as she was concerned, nothing would keep her from this trip.
    Her eyes hypnotically followed the repeating road reflectors. That is, until her trance was broken by a suddenly terminating line of reflectors.
    “What?” she asked herself.
    The road was blackness only a few yards before her.
    “Okay, go straight, don’t swerve and you’ll be fine.”
    Just as she had said this, her headlights simultaneously went out.
    She yelled an obscenity, and then tried to regain composure; she then noticed her headlights had come back on. Only it wasn’t her headlights she was seeing. It was the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck. She hadn’t enough time to avoid, so she simply braced for impact.
    The man with the bracelet looked at the girl with the heart necklace.
    “We have our first place winner.”
    The girl stood up and left the room.
    The man with the bracelet readjusted his seating position and the jingling of the pair of charms on his bracelet seemed load in the otherwise quiet room.
    Somewhere farther, a young man kneeled at one of the pews in a large catholic church. He finished his prayer, and along with all the others in the building, stood up.
    The priest up front began to speak. “I am sorry to bother you all, but my trick knee has been acting up lately and my doctor says I shouldn’t walk too far. Can someone bring the donation basket to the safe in the back room for me?”
    “Sure, I’ll do it.” spoke up the one who was earlier praying silently. He began to walk up to the pries when a small child got up from his seat and approached him.
    “Hey mister,” the child addressed, “can I see your unbreakable comb again mister, I think I got stronger.”
    “Sure.” The man reached into his pocket and took out a comb. He handed it to the child, who pursued to attempt to break it.
    “I still can’t do it!” the child said.
    “Don’t worry, you’ll get it someday.” The man took his comb back and approached the priest. The priest handed him the basket full of money and the man headed for a door in the back of the room.
    He tried to open the door, but couldn’t.
    “It’s locked.”
    “Oh. And I lost the key for that one too. Here,” the priest held out a ring of keys from his robe, “use the door outside.”
    Outside, the man stood at the door, fiddling with the keys, trying to find the right one. He slipped the comb from his pocket and combed his hair back as he one-handedly searched for the appropriate key. He heard footsteps behind him, and just as he resolved to turn and find out who’s they were, an iron pipe came down onto his head, breaking his comb in half. The person who had swung the pipe ran away with the donation basket.
    The man with the bracelet looked over at the man in the priest gown with the golden wedding band on his right hand.
    “Second place.”
    “Thank you.” the man with the wedding band said and he exited the room.
    The man with the bracelet looked over at the girl with the ram necklace.
    “You can still get third if you go within the time limit.”
    “No.” she said. “I refuse to go on any longer. I am worth no more than anyone else. Saving myself at another’s expense for this little game of yours is not something I am willing to do! But, than again, I should expect no less from you.”
    “No, you shouldn’t.” The man with the bracelet detached the lone “hope” charm from his jewelry piece. He handed it to her.
    “What!? What is this?”
    “You stood up to me, so you win the game. While the others are only postponing their inevitable demise, you have truly freed yourself.”
    The girl took the charm and ran off out of the room as fast as she could.
    “But then again,” the man in the suit said to himself, “I have never been good with telling the truth.” He looked at the ceiling. “Isn’t that right.”