Second chance

- So, you planning to participate in this t.v show Mary? – curious enough .

- Yes! Diane  I am definitely planning to take part in the show. Do you know that they give money for you if you pass to the second round if the show ,? - excited.

- Second round ¿ I sincerely have ne er heard about it ¡ What is it supposed to be?  

- It is the second chance that you have to answer the questions. In the first part of the game, you have easy questions about general culture, things that I think almost everyone know the answer. A piece of cake ¡ - and, in this part of the show, you make a little money, but I do not care about it as you know I have list my job due to the quarantine.

- Wel, that is a fact. So you want to make money to pay your Bill’s.

- Sure ¡ I also need to survive. 

- Good ¡ - getting a bit more interested.

- Yes! – still excited – but the thing is that questions become more and more difficult. 

And this us the point that most of the participants hesitate, giving wrong questions to finally loose every single coin they won before. 

Is tough! 

- So tell me, dear, why do you want to risk yourself in such a difficult t.v. program? 

- Because I think I can do it. I am not a dumb, mor a genius. I am in the average of the knowledge. 

If I have a bit of luck, I can go to the second chance and this is where I can make millions of dollars!

- Are you a lucky person ¿ 

- I think so. Remember that I had won many prizes in school, I always win the games that I play and I am positively lucky.

- In that case, I have to wish you luck ‘ and they embraced each other, affectionately. 

That, was the day the t.v. show was supposed to be recorded. 

Naturally, Diane woke very early, took a shower, and had a quick breakfast after getting dressed.

- It is time to ho yo the recording set. 

So, she did.

But, in the middle of the road, there was a car accident blocking the cars and all transportation means of going ahead .

- What is going on there ¿ - she anxiously asked to the bus driver  who was mad, because he also had time to reach the end of his route.

- I have no idea, lady, but I think I will have to divert my route. I will turn right instead if left, ho ahead three blocks up to the bridge, and take the river road.

- The river road? But this is too far away from the ordinary route ¡

- Yes. It is the only solution.

That solution was a problem for her because she was supposed to get out of the bus four blocks before.

- Stop the bus please! – she asked. 

And she had to go back four blocks, walking, and had to take another bus, that was obviously full.

- Fine ¡ I will have to go hanging myself .

By yhem, she still had half an hour to arrive to the studio.

- Relax, baby – she was thinking – you will do it.

For achieving her goal, she had to take a short cut to the main street, walking one block, in around five minutes.

And the recording studio was there, in front of her ¡.

So, she got in.

- Tes, madam – the guard, an old man wearing glasses said yo her in a tiring way :  

- You go to the second recording studio  on the left - pointing.

The audience were there. 

The host too. 

Sweating, she gave her identification to the receptionist. 

- Fine. You stay here The recording is going to start in about five minutes. Help yourself with some water in the meantime. 

- Thank you !

So she did.

The host showed up. He was tall and good looking. 

The presentation if the show took some minutes, with songs , audience rehearsals, breaks for water.

More than an hour and a half hour had passed.

And more than two participants had failed answering easy questions.

- How come they do not know how to answer such easy questions!? – she asked herself, 

And the host called her: it was her turn.

After personal presentations, he asked five eady questions, about general knowledge, that she answered correctly.

But that time, she had won five thousand dollars money enough to pay her bills but not to keep surviving.

       That was the time tor the second chance so the history asked her:

- Do you want to keep on trying the million or do you prefer to stop ?

- I prefer to continue – adding up numbers.

- Very well ! - and he kept making questions, more and more difficult.

She earned money, sometimes.

But she also list money sometimes.

When she had won about fifty thousand dollars – ten times more the amount she needed – he made the last and decisive question, about the quarantine, that she loathed : 

- what are the signs and symptoms in the skin of a positive coronavirus case ? 

She remembered reading a lit about that virus, especially because of her free time during the quarantine. 

She knew there was a lot of positive cases in her city.

She remembered the name of the medicines in research.

She also remembered the mechanisms of action of that danmed virus, always in mutation.

But…the skin signs and symptoms? Where are you? 

She was visibly nervous, sweating, looking at the audience to get some idea of the right answer.

But she was so agitated, that she could not listen or at least identify any thing.

Nothing.

Her head was in blank.

She could not associate the question with the answer, biting her nails, lost.

It was not a second chance.

It was her last chance.

Time was up.

And the host asked for her answer.

- The signs and symptoms in the skin are eruptions, rash, red skin.

- There is no rash in the signs and symptoms – the host said, correcting the answer she gave  

So,  dear  you loose this final round – and the audience, quiet, started to jeer to him, and draw “ no" with their fingers .

They were mad against him, as her performance was really good.

- Ok, the riles if the second chance are clear, so, you have a second chance. You have to answer another question, after ads .

The time for ads was five minutes.

- Csn I stop now? – she asked the host. She was afraid of loosing everything. Her Bill’s were waiting for her.

- Yes you can. But we already gave a se knd chance.

- I prefer to leave the show with the five thousand dollars. I don’t think I will do it.

- Fine. We can record it again.

- So let’s do it 

After that five minutes theh started to record again.

- I stop she said.

And the audience clapped.

She paid her bill’s with that five thousand dollars.

And looked for another job.