The Bet

The sun was setting over the city. Buildings stood towering over the half empty streets. On a fire escape looking down on a rundown neighborhood, a person in worn clothing sat quietly looking on at the passers by. The number of people moving from day to night was about typical. The person on the fire escape watched as the sun slid behind a bank of clouds creating the most wonderful array of colors. Then all of a sudden, a firetruck screamed down the street. The serenity was broken by the blaring siren and flashing lights. Then as the person on the fire escape began to move, a voice spoke with quiet and subtle intent. Without looking to see where the voice came from, the angel on the fire escape simply rolled their eyes and said, not you again. Then out of the shadows came a sihoulette of a figure formed into a dazzling looking person in a immaculate suit. Tailored and polished the second person said fancy meeting you here. The angel then turned to the demon and said, is there nothing you will not spoil. The demon then smirked and said, I don't see what you are so worked up for, it was just a sun set, haven't you seen enough of them for one eternity? No, not really responded the angel. Well then said the demon, perhaps I should make it rain. The angel then responded, that will make trees and flowers grow. In digust the demon retorted, don't you ever get bothered. The angel replied only when you are around. Fine the demon said, I see you are still watching over this wretched patch of humanity. The angel replied, you mean Gods children? The demon shrieked in pain, please don't mention that name. Oh the angel replied, does it bother you? Refusing to respond, the demon said how would you like to play a game? The angel rolled their eyes and said serioulsy? Yes the demon said, I am rather bored at the moment, this neighborhood is run down and people seem to be losing hope so my work is progressing nicely. With a sigh the angel responded, what kind of game do you have in mind? Knowing that the demon was limited in what it could do, the demon responded how about a game of influence the human. That is not a very nice game the angel responded. What's the matter, are you afraid you will lose the demon sneered? It isn't that the angel said, I just don't like intefering in the affairs of humans too much. The demon then replied, okay then how does this sound, if I can influence a person into doing a bunch of awful things before the sun comes up, then you have to leave this neighborhood to me for a week, and if I win the angel asked? If you win, let me see the demon thought. Then the angel said, if I win you have to spend a week in hell and cannot under any circumstance influence anything or anyone in this city. Cringing the demon thought it over, then responded with a confident grin, you have a deal. Then as is customary to seal a bargin, the two shook hands and the bet became binding. Now who do we try to influence, the angel then said instead of one of us picking someone, let us leave it to chance. Not happy with the suggestion but not wanting the angel to take an eternity to choose someone, the demon then said agreed. So how do we choose this person. The angel said that is simple, the next person that crosses the street in front of us and goes into the liquor store the demon retorted! Fine said the angel, and goes into the liquor store. So the two both stood quietly on the fire escape, waiting patiently. Then a well dressed woman came around the corner and entered into the liquor store on the street below. The demon started to move, not so fast the angel said, the woman didn't cross the street in front of us. Splitting hairs are we now said the demon, God forbid the angel said, with a wheezing noise the demon said, I told you don't say that name. Sorry said the angel, my mistake. For several minuets they both watched and waited. Some people went into the liquor store but didn't cross the street. Others crossed the street but didn't go into the liquor store. Then finally, a guy in dirty looking clothing crossed the street. He then turned and walked straight to the corner liquor store. At last the demon smirked and like a fading shadow the demon was inside the store. The angel just rolled their eyes and smiled, hell is always in such a hurry. A second later the angel walked into the store, the demon was already bristling with ideas on how to corrupt this poor soul and just as it was about to make it's move, the angel interjected, we never did decided who would go first. Fuming with anger that the opportunity had been interuppted, the demon said fine would you like to go first? No the angel smiled, I just wanted to mention it to you. The demon then regained it's composure and moved past the angel. The person was looking in cooler and was about to pick up a single bottel of beer when the demon whispered in an inaudible manner into the persons ear, so instead of buying a single beer the man bought a 12 pack. With a smile the demon thought that is a good start. What do you think of that the demon retorted to the angel, oh quiet impressive, a whole pack of beer. I am sure that will be the sin of the century. Fine the demon said you try, oh no the angel said, you go ahead, it is your turn until the guy leaves the store. So the demon followed the unlucky soul and looked to see what other opportunity lay before him. He then spied a roll of lottery scratcher tickets. He noticed that half way through the roll was a winner, 50000 dollars as a matter of fact. So as the man approached the cash register, the demon whispered into his ear again. The guy then pointed to the partial roll of tickets and ask for 30 of them. The clerk pulled them off and said that will be 82.50 with the price of the beer. The man looked confused as he handed over his debit card. I never buy that many lotto tickets he thought to himself. The clerk rang up the purchase and the man was out of the store confused. Once outside the demon was smirking, its mind was awash with the possibilities of what would come next. As the demon was looking on at the poor soul he hoped to fully corrupt by morning, the angel appeared on the street beside the unsuspecting human. The demon suddenly lost it's train of thought and it's smirk. Whats wrong the angels asked looking at the irratated demon? Nothing, just get on with your business. So the angel walked along behind the human, making sure he looked both ways before he crossed the street. Following for 2 blocks, the angel then whispered into the mans ear in the same inaudiable manner as the demon did. Suddenly, as he was passing an open air cafe, the tired looking person who had just bought the beer and lottery tickets decided to turn in to the resturant. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to buy some food. He sat down at a table and the waitress came over. She asked what he wanted, he asked for a couple of sandwiches to go. The waitress took his order and in a few minuest his food was paid for and he was on his way. Standing outside the cafe, the demon said that's it, a couple of sandwiches? The angel smiled and said that is a start. The demon lurched forward and the angel said not so fast, I am not finished. You went twice so I get one more go. Fine the demon snorted, take your other turn. As the man approached his apartment building, he saw a man sitting on the steps going up to the building. The man seemed despondent and was crying. The person who had the sandwiches and beer recognized him as one of his neighbors. The man started to pass on by when the angel whispered into his ear again. So he turned and asked if the guy was okay. The guy just looked at him and said not really. At that moment, the man with the beer asked if the guy was hungry. He said yes, so he invited him to his apartment. They went into the building and into the apartment of the man who had bought the lottery tickets and beer. They sat down and the guy who asked him up offered him a sandwich and a cold beer. Then the demon and angel appeared, the man who had been sitting on the stoop of the building was eating and having a beer. The demon then just smiled, this is your big plan, gluttony and drunkardness. Then the angel quoted scripture from the Apostle Paul where he said take a glass of wine for your stomach sake. The demon bristled and recoiled in pain! It then said don't quote scripture to me, it annoys me. Fine said the angel, it is your turn anyway. The demon began pacing back and forth looking at a way to do more mischief. Then an idea dawned on him, he whispered in the ear of the man who had bought the beer, he turned to his neighbor and asked if he would like to watch TV? He said sure I guess, then he turned it on and the first thing to appear was a movie. It was about divorce and adultry, the guy who had been crying on the stairs just fell apart. The angel just stood in silence as the demon laughed. The demon then said, nothing like seeing your life played out in a movie to make you feel good about yourself. The angel then said, now it's my turn. He walked over to the guy who had bought the beer and brushed him ever so slightly, the guy who had been outside began to wince and he told the man who had invited him in, brother you are ripe. The guy who bought the beer hadn't noticed, but he did realize he was dirty. So he ask his neighbor to stay while he showered. After cleaning up, the man who bought the beer came back out and his neighbor was 4 beers in. He then said man take it easy, the neighbor who had been a crying wreck was feeling jovial. He was laughing at his wallet and snickering at a photo in it. The guy who had bought the beer didn't get it. The demon then leaned in and whispered again into the subject of their little contest. He then looked at the wallet photo and he retorted a snide comment about the woman in the photo. The countenance of the man who had the wallet changed from happy to angry. He jumped up and said that is my wife you are talking about. Suddenly the man who had bought the beer earlier got angry himself. The demon then snickered , pride cometh before the fall. With that he felt proud of himself, it was then that bells began to ring. It was 9pm and the chapel down the street was rining it's bells to announce mass. All of a suddend both men cooled down a bit. The angel then whispered into the ear of the man who had bought the beer and lottery tickets. He apologized and told the distraught neighbor, that he didn't mean it. Both men suddenly regreted their actions. The man who bought the lottery tickets in a moment of remorese asked his neighbor did he want to talk about what happened. So they both sat down and he began relating his story to the man who had invited him into his apartment. He told how he was having a run of bad luck. The man who had bought the beer listened intently, the demon was not happy so he leaned in again and blew onto the mans eyelids. Suddenly, he yawned and the other man said am I boring you. The man who was listening to his neighbors problems just said, no I am tired from a long day of work, but I am okay. The angel then moved over and nudged the man and he looked at his jacket. He remembered the lottery tickets. The man who had purchased them then asked the distraught neighbor, wanna see if your luck can turnaround? He responded to the question with a puzzled look. The man who bought the beer then pulled out a string of lottery tickets from his work jacket. They guy who had been upset rolled his eyes and said yeah like that is going to solve anything. The man who had purchased the tickets told him, look I will give you any 10 of the tickets and you can scratch them off. If you win something, it is yours. So the man took 5 tickets from each end. He began scratching them off one by one. The first one was 5 dollars, the second one was a free ticket. He was 6 tickets in when he stopped cold in his tracks, what asked the man who had given him the tickets. The demon then stepped forward and whispered into the man who was the object of the bet. The guy who had been distraught, looked and said I won 2,000. Oh great the man who had paid for the tickets thought, you have a bad day, you drink my beer and now you have a run of luck. Envy much snorted the demon, the angel just remained stoic and yawned. Then the angel said wait for it, next the man who had bought the tickets went from being envious to being prideful. He had given his word and he took great pride in being honorable. He smiled and said see, your luck is changing. He encouraged the man to finish scratching off the last few tickets. He won 500 dollars then another 500. Not a bad night the man who bought the beer and tickets told his distraught neighbor. Suddenly the demon was beside himself, he could not stand it! How dare the situation turn around so quickly, as the demon approached the man who had invited his neighbor in, the angel said, not so fast, it is my turn. Now wait a moment the demon snapped, no, no the angel said, I had nothing to do with what happened . You made the man envious, but his own nature made him too proud to be selfish about a proise made. The demon couldn't stand it, he wanted to argue but he knew the angel was right. The neighbor got up and thanked the man who bought the beer. He said don't mention it. The man left and went back to his own apartment with hope in his heart. The demon then said well, take your turn. Why should I said the angel, there is nothing that says I have to. Frustrated the demon shook with anger. You have to, you have to, the angel thought for a moment then said I will let you go instead then I get two turns. The demon suddenly bristeled with ideas. He had to think quick, I know he said silently to himself. He whispered into the mans ear and he went for the other tickets. He began scratching them off one by one, until he had only 2 left. He scratched off the next to last one and it was a 500 dollar winner. The demon was smiling when the angel stepped forward. What are you doing the demon said, I am taking my turn the angel said, we didn't specify when I could take it. In furious anger the demon raged at the angel. That isn't fair, the angel then interjected, you did't complain when I let you have a second turn. Fine the demon snorted have your turns. The angel then whispered inaudiably but ever so gently into the mans ear. The man then felt a sense of peace and gratitude. He looked up to the heavens and said, what ever comes next, I dedicate to you oh God. The demon shriked in pain at the mention of the name of God. The man then scratched off the last ticket, to his astonishment he saw 50000 . Stunned, he couldn't move, at that moment church bells began to ring. Remembering his promise, the man put the ticket in his pocket and headed out the door. A few monents later, he was outside of a church. The demon and angel had followed him. The demon hissed with anger, this is not fair. Upon entering the church, the man took the ticket out and wrote a note on a piece of paper then dropped it into the poor box just outside the sanctuary. No the demon cried, then as if the heavens themselves were quieted, the man just sat on a pew and began to pray. The angel turned to the demon and said well we are done the demon protested, but to no avail. The angel said I have one turn left and I have on need to use it, so I win! As the demon started to protest, a portal opened and he was sucked in. The angel smiled and said see you in a week.