The Bet

In the summer of 1998, on a hot Sunday evening, three best friends sat on a church pew in an empty sanctuary talking themselves out of boredom when one of them came up with a plan that would ensure their fiscal happiness for 365 days two fold.

The first teenager, Bernard (16), the football player slash heath guru, he was into reading comic books and playing fighting games on Playstation and Dreamcast. As an adult, he had dreams of being someone famous. Doing what. I don't know. But someone famous was someone he wanted to be.

The second teenager, David (16), was the artistic one of the three. He loved drawing, playing his keyboard, and typing up The Daily Liar. As an adult he wanted to work as a cartoonist and drive a Jaguar. Or as he would say it "Jag".

The third teenager, Krissy (13), she was into playing her Nintendo 64 and listening to her pop and R&B CDs. As an adult, she always seen herself as being someone important. Krissy wanted to become a Dental Hygienist.

Seems like these three had their lives in order. They all wanted to be successful.

Bernard, David, and Krissy were an inseparable trio. Every Friday night after they attended their Youth Ministry at church they always had plans with each other. The plans either involved playing Lazer Tag, going to the movies, going out to eat, or chillin' in the church basement playing video games or at "the house". Tho, they were not limited to just their Friday night plans. They consistently kept their plans throughout the weekend doing a combination of the four. If they could extend and spend time together during the week, the better.

I can't paint a pretty picture for you about Bernard and Krissy. They had some sort of love/hate relationship. Bernard had a crush on Krissy and she didn't want anything to do with him relationship wise, so they fought constantly; physically and verbally. On their good days they got along. Who am I kidding? There were no "good days". Those two were like Bata Fish. They hardly ever got along.

David was like a brother to those two. They were all the only child in their families and these three were like siblings to each other (Krissy's had a one year old baby brother. But she still saw herself as the only child). David was the peacemaker and comedian of the group. He made it his business to keep the peace between the other two. However, on one Sunday afternoon at "the house", David thought it would be funny to rename Bernard and Krissy Itchy and Scratchy and sing the Itchy and Scratchy theme song after Bernard and Krissy got into a huge argument . Somehow through all the dysfunction, they made their friendship work. Crazy kids.

As David and Krissy knew, Bernard never ever in a million years wanted to get married to anyone. Bernard made that clear throughout their friendship. David and Krissy were the opposite. They always had dreams of having a family of their own someday. On that Sunday evening in the empty church sanctuary, Bernard came up with a bet. If he was to get married before he was 30, he would pay David and Krissy his salary for a year. If David and Krissy were married after they were 30 they would have to pay Bernard their salary for a year. And just like that the bet was on and time was tickin'.

Fast forward thirteen years. Bernard and David are 29 and Krissy is 25 going on 26. Neither of the three are married. Nor have they reached their goals of being what they wanted to be yet. However as far as the bet is concerned, there's still time left. Who's gonna be the winner?

...the world may never know.