TRIGGER WARNING:
– mentions of knife; gore.
– there is the intention to smoke but it only ever gets as far as playing with lighters.
It’s your friend, that English girl.
Don’t pretend you don’t remember me but enough about that, you won’t believe the story I have to tell you…Remember that young American boy I introduced you to the other day?
Well, it was just a normal day; playing on the beach, we went to go sit down and have a drink, he went to go get his cigar out and tried to light it. A man across from us could tell he was having trouble, he said ‘trying to light it like that won’t work, give it here.’ He gestured his hand for the cigar and made a cliché remark, ‘you know how boys are with their toys.’ He was denying it and saying it always worked before. I thought nothing of it whilst they continued with their petty argument. Until the man offered a bet in who could keep their lighter lit for the longest time, he would award his green cadillac, only a few months old. We barely knew the guy; as if we would be that gullible, or so I thought but turns out the American guy has no brains and agreed on the bet. This was just the start of the madness.
If it’s not boys with their toys, it’s boys with their cars, I walked in-front of them and asked “you can’t be serious?” but the old man gave us both a look that was covered in honesty. He wanted a new car, then he asked what we would be betting in return, we had no idea but then he suggested a “little finger”. We couldn’t believe our ears, this had to be a prank. We put our thinking caps on and AB said “I can’t bet one of my little fingers for a huge car, that’s just not a fair bet at all.” Neither of us wanted to think of the way he might get that little finger if he won.
After some thought, AB lit his cigar and said “I accept the bet.” I almost choked on my drink when I heard that and before I knew it, they both had their hands on their lighters. I kept telling him lines like ‘it’s a stupid bet and we should just make a run for it whilst we can’, his eyes were set on the other man and his own lighter. He even started to side with the old man, ‘I’ve had no use for my little fingers so far in life, so why not bet it?’
“HOW ABOUT IT BEING A PART OF YOU?” I shouted back.
“Do you want people laughing when you tell the story of how you stupidly lost that finger?” I went to sit down and just tell myself it was all for fun, none of it was real. We’ll be out of here in no time, this was just some messed up prank for a video to sprout views and popularity from, that’s all. However, the man had started tying AB’s hand to a table so he wouldn’t move it if he did lose. I started to wonder if the man had a jar of old fingers at home from silly boys who had lost theirs in a bet, innocently falling for his tricks.
The man held a chopping knife just above his left hand whilst he had his lighter in the other, the bet was about to begin. I try to cover my eyes thinking I couldn’t watch this, but I needed my eyes open and ironically, my fingers ready to dial for an ambulance. He lit the lighter, I become a referee and started counting, I was shaking my head vigorously, but slowly I started to calm myself down, thinking of new journeys to be had in this new green cadillac. When I got to 5, I started to feel calmer and think phew, we might actually get out of here with a full set of fingers. Then a woman walked over, stopping the bet. She must’ve been his wife and she told us to run, we never moved quicker in our lives and we never looked back to the echoes of her screaming at this old man.
When we got as far as our legs could take us, I thought back to when I saw her hand, it was just one finger and a thumb left. Was he playing bets with his own wife all along, or maybe using her for practise? But practise for what? Anyway, story over, that’s enough for one holiday!
Author’s notes: it seems little me on 7/11/14 had a crazy mind, yes I edited some bits for petty humour.
Rachael Cook 