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[00:02.48]The Outside Chance
[00:06.74]It's a funny thing about money.
[00:10.37]If you haven't got it,you think it's the most important thing in the world.
[00:16.12]That's what I used to think,too.
[00:19.46]I don't any more,though,and I learned the hard way.
[00:24.01]When I was at school,we had this English master.
[00:28.97]He was always quoting to us from famous writers.
[00:33.83]I wasn't very interested,and I don't remember much about it now.
[00:39.11]But it's funny how things come back to you.
[00:42.95]He used to say:"When the gods wish to punish us,they answer our prayers."
[00:49.19]Sounds a bit silly,doesn't it?
[00:52.64]Well,I didn't understand it then,either,but I can tell you what it means now.
[00:58.70]It means if you want something really badly,you'll probably get it.
[01:04.57]But you'll probably get it in a way you don't expect.
[01:09.83]I mean,you might have to pay a price you didn't bargain for.
[01:14.68]It started one rainy day,when I was coming home from work.
[01:20.25]I'm a motor mechanic,and I like working in the garage.
[01:25.21]But,I was restless.I'd always had this dream of owning my own business.
[01:31.77]Nothing big--just something I could build up.
[01:36.03]I don't mind hard work,you see,if I'm working for myself.
[01:41.17]That's why I'd left my mum and dad in the North,and come to London.
[01:46.53]I thought I'd make more money that way.
[01:50.18]We'd had arguments about it.My dad and I.
[01:54.44]He didn't see why I should want to leave home when I had enough money to live on
[02:00.82]Enough!Enough for what?I used to ask him.
[02:05.36]To live as he had in a council house all his life,
[02:10.32]with nothing to look forward to but a gold watch ad a pension?
[02:15.89]Oh,I was fond of him,you see,and it annoyed me to see him so content.
[02:22.42]He had nothing to show for all those years of work in that noisy factory.
[02:29.08]Anyway,all this was on my mind,as I walked home that night.
[02:34.85]The rain didn't help,either.
[02:38.20]I remember thinking,
[02:41.12]if only I could get a thousand pounds just that,just a thousand.
[02:47.39]I stopped and bought a newspaper outside the Tube.
[02:52.12]I thought it would take my mind off things on the way home.
[02:56.85]I could read about other people's troubles for a change.
[03:01.11]See what films were on.
[03:04.16]I don't know when I first realised there was something wrong with the paper.
[03:09.62]It looked ordinary enough.
[03:13.10]But there was something about it that didn't seem quite right.
[03:17.54]As if there was a gap in the news.As if it was a jump ahead.
[03:23.10]So,in the end,I looked at the front page,
[03:27.75]and instead of Tuesday 22nd November,it said Wednesday 23rd November.
[03:34.83]"My God,"I thought,"it's tomorrow's paper!"
[03:39.09]I didn't believe it to start with.
[03:42.85]But it did explain why all the news was different.
[03:47.53]There couldn't be any other explanation.
[03:51.37]Somehow,I had bought tomorrow's paper
[03:55.73]today!And that was the moment I realised it.
[04:00.40]The moment I realised that all my prayers could be answered.
[04:05.45]My hands were shaking so much that I could hardly turn the pages.
[04:11.12]But they were there.The results of tomorrow's races!
[04:16.44]I looked at the winners,and chose from them carefully.
[04:21.17]I picked only the outsiders that had won at prices like 30-1.
[04:27.65]There was even one at 50-1!A horse I would never have thought of betting on.
[04:34.31]Next morning,I went to the bank,and drew out just about all I had ￡150.
[04:42.07]I laid my bets during my lunch hour.
[04:46.22]I went to several shops.I didn't want anyone to become suspicious.
[04:51.97]It's a funny thing,but I just knew the horses would win.
[04:57.14]And God forgive me I never stopped to think
[05:02.29]why I had been given this chance to see into the future.
[05:07.46]They did win every one of them.
[05:11.51]All I had to do was to go round and collect my money,
[05:16.76]and I couldn't wait to get home and count it.￡4,000!!
[05:22.64]Well,nothing could stop me now!
[05:26.30]I'd give in my notice at work the next day,and look for a place of my own.
[05:32.25]Wait till I told Mum and Dad!They'd hardly be able to believe it.
[05:37.89]I switched on the television,but I couldn't concentrate on it.
[05:42.86]I kept thinking what I'd do with the money.I hardly heard a word of the programme.
[05:49.34]Then the news came on.
[05:52.57]The announcer mentioned Selby.That was where my parents lived.
[05:57.62]I began to listen.
[06:00.65]There had been an explosion up there,that afternoon,
[06:05.48]followed by a fire in a factory.
[06:09.32]Twenty-two people had been killed,and many more were in hospital.
[06:15.38]I don't remember the rest--something about a government enquiry.
[06:20.84]I stopped listening,but I couldn't move out of the chair.
[06:25.88]I think I must've known then that my dad was dead even before the telegram came.
[06:32.65]The newspaper had fallen on the floor.
[06:36.59]I picked it up,not realising what I was doing.
[06:41.14]Then,I saw it in the"Stop Press."FACTORY DISASTER IN SELBY.MANY FEARED DEAD.
[06:48.58]I hadn't seen it before.
[06:51.82]I'd been too busy picking winners.
[06:55.58]I could've saved my dad's life,but I'd been too busy picking bloody winners.
[07:01.75]I don't often cry,but the words swam in front of me then.
[07:07.39]There isn't much more to tell.I got my own business,and I'm doing well.
[07:13.03]As for my Mum,she was paid insurance by the firm that owned the factory,
[07:18.91]so she's better off than she ever was.
[07:22.96]The only thing is,she doesn't care if she's alive or dead now my Dad's gone.
[07:28.99]When the gods wish to punish us,they make a damn good job of it. |