The One Rule Game

Sam swore loudly at no one in particular as he stood at the bus stop watching his bus drive off. The money he had on him would definitely not be enough to cover a trip to work and get him lunch later. He thought about what other choices he had and decided that missing a meal was a much better option than having his manager be on his neck so early in the morning. He swore again, if only he hadn’t taken his time to make himself a whole meal. But that was in the past now, what mattered was getting to work as soon as possible.

The one pro of living where he did was that he could always easily access a cab no matter what time of the day it was. He quickly flagged down a cab and motioned for the driver to open the trunk so that he could put his bag in there. The driver did so and blocked Sam’s view of the rear-view mirror where the driver smiled with a knowing look in his eye. This could be the next player in his twisted game and that got him feeling so excited. Sam slammed the boot making the driver wince a little and got into the back seat and slammed the door once more. He told the driver where he was headed and sat back while the driver started the meter and began the journey.

After exchanging pleasantries, the rest of the ride to work was quiet and Sam was grateful for that. He had time to think through how his day would go since he wouldn’t have any food to get him through an 8 hour shift of pure manual labour. The driver pulled up to a building that was just a block from the warehouse which was as far as Sam’s money would take him. He got down with almost 10 minutes to spare which was enough time to get to work and get signed in before 8am. He paid the driver and thanked him and began his journey to work before he was cut off by the driver who was now standing outside the driver’s seat holding his bag and motioning for him to come get it. He hurried back, thanked the driver once again and headed to work.

It was break time and Sam felt his stomach rumbling. He headed to the breakroom to see if by luck’s chance he had any loose coins that could get him a bag of chips from the vending machine. The first thing he saw when he opened his bag however was a little black book that he was sure did not belong to him. He looked around trying to see if someone was playing a prank on him but quickly realized that the only other person in the room was on the phone. He picked up the book and opened it out of curiosity. He reasoned that the least he could do was check to see if the owner had a name written in it so he could get it back to them. He flipped through the little black book and saw that all the pages of the book were empty, apart from the last 3 pages. And on the first page of the three, written out in possibly the neatest penmanship Sam had ever seen, he saw one question.

“What would you do if you had access to $20,000 right now?”

This made Sam think. Twenty thousand dollars was a lot of money and that would help him pay of his family debt quicker than the 4 year plan he had laid out. But right now, having $20,000 meant he could get himself something nice to eat. The thought of that made his stomach rumble even louder, making the other person in the room turn and give him a weird look. He ignored it and flipped over to the next page and saw a few more words on this page than the last one.

“If you have found yourself with this book, it means you are now in possession of $20,000. You can choose to keep it and play a little game with me or return it to the rightful owner. If you choose to return it, I’ll be outside wherever you found the book and on seeing me, you’ll know who I am. But if you choose to play, flip over to find out the rule of the game.”

This sounded too good to be true. How was he in possession of the money? He had just been thinking about how he had no money for lunch and this mysterious book was telling him that he was in possession of a rather ridiculous amount of money. He ransacked his bag inquisitively and found an envelope that he knew wasn’t his. He opened it, pulled out a few $100 bills and his eyes flew wide open in surprise as he let out a gasp causing the other person to look back at him once again. How was this even possible? He had been with his bag all day except when he left it in his locker.

Holding the money in his hands made Sam question his morals. He knew he should return it, but he needed the money and since it was already with him, he couldn’t see himself giving it back. And since this was a game, he could always look at the money as his prize reward for winning. And because he loved playing games, he figured there wasn’t much that could be requested of him that he wouldn’t be able to handle. And with his mind made up that he would keep the money for himself, he flipped the book over to the last page and saw the one rule of the game written in big bold letters,

“DON’T GET CAUGHT.”

That was it. He flipped through the book to see if there was anything else concerning how to play the game, but there was nothing. This was weird. And something in him told him that he should just return the money. 4 years wasn’t that long and the first year was almost up. He had a plan, and he knew he could get through it if he just stuck to it. But this was money right there in his hands, at his disposal, waiting for him to use it.

He quickly told his manager that he was sick and needed to take the rest of the day off. His manager reluctantly agreed and wished him a quick recovery. Clutching his bag tightly against his chest, he headed for the door. He paused to see if anyone there could be recognized as the owner of the money. He took his time to check through the parking lot, and after feeling like the coast was clear, he fled.

The driver was parked in such a way that he could not be seen from the entrance. He had played this game so many times that he knew the subjects would always check to see if they could find the owner of the money. And this next player wasn’t any different. The moment he saw Sam holding the bag tightly against his chest, he knew that this was someone who had chosen to play the game. And so, the moment Sam left the building, the driver followed him. He liked to give his players a 15 minute head start before he began to hunt them down.

Unbeknownst to Sam, the driver followed him from a distance as he headed to the nearest bank to open an account and deposit part of the money. He knew putting in all that money at once might raise some questions that he didn’t know how best to answer. So, he put in $5000 in his account. The rest would cover his family debt for the next two and a half years leaving him with just about a year left of following his plan. That was fine with him because he had the balance in his account to spend.

His 15 minutes were up the moment he stepped out of the bank and got into a cab. Sam was headed to the debt collector’s office, and the driver was hot on his tail. The moment he stepped out of the debt collector’s office feeling much lighter, he flagged down a cab and got in, not knowing it was the same cab from this morning.

“We meet again” the driver said finally causing Sam to look up and see it was the same person from his ride in the morning.

“Yes we do. What a strange coincidence.” He didn’t put much thought to it as getting the same driver twice in the same day wasn’t that rare. He told the driver where he was headed and sat back to enjoy the ride. The driver had taken a turn opposite where they were meant to be headed when Sam spoke up again.

“Are you sure you know where I’m headed to?” he asked the driver worriedly.

“I do” said the driver “but you got caught, so unfortunately for you, the game is over.”

The driver threw a smile at him through the rear-view mirror, and it was at that moment that Sam knew that he had messed up. He had never considered the driver being the owner of the money and that was his mistake. He had thought it was someone from the office who was behind all this and that was why he chose to leave earlier.

“You’re one of the smartest ones I’ve played with before” the driver said eyes locked on Sam through the mirror.

“Most times I get my money back and a person to play with, but this time I only get a new toy”.

He let out a sigh, “Oh well…” he shrugged “you win some, you lose some.”