Tempting Fate

Facts you need to know before reading this.


1. Jimmy had a convertible. He’d hop in – well, maybe not ‘hop’ and shout out 
    "Oh, I love the wind in my hair!"  After 2 miles on the highway my hair   would be a rat’s nest. Guess how often we took the convertible?


3. We both loved to gamble in casinos and  9 out of 10 times I lost. He called me his anchor, but not in a good way.


4. Jimmy hated Steve Wynn and would have refused to step into his latest casino, Encore.


5. Bob is a web designer who I was going to Vegas to meet for business. There you have it...



I didn’t mean to rent a convertible. As I scrolled along the Hertz website there it was – a baby blue Volvo convertible with a beige interior. Isn’t this what I needed, a classy, yet not too obnoxious a car to pull up to the Encore?

Before I could say "Maybe I shouldn't" my finger clicked on to print out my confimation number.  I called my buddy, Connie.

"I did something" I said.

"What did you do now?"  She sounded like she was scolding a puppy.

"I rented a car for Vegas so I could drive to Bob's.  He's 40 minutes off the strip."

"Good. Very grown-up. So?"

"It's a convertible.  I rented a convertible."

Laughter was all I heard.

Finally, Connie composed herself and said,

"Oooooh. Forget about your life-long losing streak. A slot machine will probably fall on you!"

Connie may be right. Perhaps, staying at Encore was tempting fate enough.

"I can just hear the news report now" I said. "In a freak accident today a slot machine tipped over and pinned a 60 year old widow. 

As the casino workers pulled the machine off the unhurt, but dazed grandmother from Merrick, New York, she was heard to say, "Okay, Jimmy. That wasn't funny."