“No fair,” Ralph said.
“Too bad,” mocked Sally, “the Sun touched the finish line first, you lose again.”
“Dam, there goes another twenty bucks.” he replied.
“Look Ralph, I don’t mind taking your money, but you sure are making some stupid bets. Like beating the sun past that pennant line; I can’t believe you were so stupid.”
“Yeah, but I was expecting you to stay where you were back there, not come forward with me–”
“Seriously,” Sally said exasperated, “how could I tell when you reached the pennant line from way back there? And, can I help it if the sun moves from my perspective when I move. Maybe you shouldn’t have slept through geometry in high school.”
Sally and Ralph were twins, with a very competitive family dynamic. Sally was 10 minutes older, but even though Ralph was known to be smarter, lately, he seemed to be losing more bets than he won.
Their parents said they were helpless gamblers, but at least they were smart enough to keep it in the family. They only bet with each other, and then only for 10 or 20 bucks at a time. They used the cash for beer money, and then the winner would always be magnanimous and buy the looser a beer. It all worked out.
They were in their last year at U of T; both in Journalism, final exams in a couple of weeks. After graduation, Sally wanted to get a job right away in a small-town newspaper, but Ralph wanted to travel. They had always done everything together – well almost everything, considering they were of the opposite sex. But this difference in career paths was a sore point between them. Each was convinced that their choice was best, for both of them.
“Look Sally,” Ralph said getting her attention. “You’ve been bleeding me dry. You’ve been winning so much of my money, I need a chance to win it back. We need to up the stakes.”
“Sure Ralph”, she chuckled, “I’ll give you a chance to give me a lot more money.”
“Okay, here’s the bet. I bet I can travel back in time. I am so confident about it, I’ll bet $1,500 bucks.”
“I’ll take your money.” Sally chuckled. “You can no more do that then you can beat the sun in a race. Easy money, I’m in.”
“Same conditions as the last bet, but it’s a lot of money, so let’s be serious and shake on it.” He said and stuck out his hand.
“Okay –,” she said hesitantly.
“Good, now the only way you can verify my time travel,” he continued, “is for you to be with me.”
“There is a flight leaving from Seoul, South Korea at 10:20 AM August 15th. It arrives on the same day here in Toronto at 9:15 AM. I will be on that flight and therefore will travel back in time one hour. You will have to be on that flight with me to verify.”
“I’ve been fished in,” Sally exclaimed! “You nasty little shark! You fished me in by loosing so often and then upping the stakes…”
“You’re going to love visiting Seoul Sally, it’ll be a great travel adventure.” Ralph chuckled.
Author’s Note: I want to thank Alice Liu again for this great picture.