GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

WIC COMPANY

The old guy moved forward and went closer to him. “Because I know something that will make you rich for an instant.” Denton’s eyes gaped open as he placed both his palms and arms on his body. It was as if he did that due to his instinct. “What are you doing, young man? Why do you look so scared?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I would not want to sell my body in exchange of urgent, instant money. I have my dignity, sir. I do not want to stoop down to that level,” Denton defended. The old guy just looked at him, looking all confused. “Also, I have my two daughters and my brother, sir. Imagine, if they knew that I got that instant money by selling my body, they would be so much disappointed and troubled. I do not want to get swayed by that invitation, sir. I do not want to sell my money.”

“What are you talking about?” the old guy’s remorse. He looked at Denton who was looking at him intently while still covering his body. The old guy grabbed something in his pocket and gave him. He placed it on the table before talking. “I do not want to buy your body or anything that you are thinking about. Take a look at this…”

Denton suddenly stood up, causing the old guy stop what he is talking about. He immediately ran through the comfort room of the fast-food chain and locked himself in there. He looked at the mirror and slammed his head using his fist. “What are you doing, Denton?” he asked himself while looking at himself on the mirror. He gave up looking at himself as he is too embarrassed that he acted that way to the old guy. “Why did you think he is up for your body? You are a gross asshole…”

He took time inside the comfort room and gathered himself. He does not want to look awkward to the old guy but when he went out of the comfort room, the old guy has already vanished, bringing his foods. “Sir, where is the old guy that was sitting here a while ago?” he asked the janitor who just looked at him.

“Sir, are you alright?” the janitor asked. He blinked his eyes two times. “Sir, you are sitting at that table alone while you are here, sir. You have nobody with you, sir. Who’s the old guy you are talking about?”

Denton was stopped. “The old guy that was talking to me here. The one who was wearing a yellow top and a bonnet with his single cane… are you sure you did not see him?” he asked the janitor but the janitor scratched his head, as a response. “Alright, do not bother. Thank you.”

He went back to his seat and looked at the seat in front of him. “He surely is here, right here before I went to the comfort room. Did he leave because I suspected him…? No way,” he muttered before looking at the janitor who was strangely looking at him. He looked at the paper which the old guy left. It was a whole blank black piece of paper on the two sides. Attached to the piece of paper is a paper from his notes with letters scribbled in it. “Dip the black paper on a tub of water to see the exact address. If you do want to win an urgent, instant money, go to that place at exact ten in the evening,” he read what was written in there. “From the WIC Company…”

He looked at the blank paper before putting it in his pocket. He thought that the old guy was just playing game and that he was not serious of this. He tried looking for the old guy outside the fast-food chain where they both met each other but he failed. Denton worries about where the old guy has already headed to, since he assumes that the old guy has been suffering from an illness typical elderlies have. “Where did he go?”

Hours later, he stopped looking for the guy and continued on going to the companies which he listed on his notes. He tries hard during those interviews but still failed of being hired. Some managers tell that he does not fit the standards while some says that they already have found someone to vacate the position. He realized that it was really hard to find a job for him who did not even attend a single day in college.

Denton came into the conclusion of just coming home early after he failed being hired in the companies he tried to apply with. He threw himself sitting on the chair and grabbed the blank black paper which the old guy gave him. “Maybe he is just playing games,” he muttered to himself before putting the black paper near the lampshade just beside the sofa he sat on. “Wait, where is everybody?”

He started roaming around the house, finding all Dennis and his two daughters but he failed seeing even any single shadow in the house. “Where have they gone to?” he muttered before getting his phone. He opened it and saw fifty-five missed calls from his younger brother. “Why did he call so many times?”

As he started worrying, Denton pressed Dennis’ phone number and called his younger brother immediately. After few tries, Dennis picked up. “Kuya…” he muttered, stuttering from here to there. Denton knotted his brows, wondering why Dennis sounds like that.

“Dennis, it is already dark outside. If you brought both Donna and Denise outside to have fun, then tell them to come inside already. Tell them I already have arrived at the house,” he muttered. He did not show any single sign of worrying and was calming himself. He heard few breaths from Dennis who was not talking anything on the phone. “What happened? Why are you sighing a lot?”

“Kuya…” Denton can already hint something with just how Dennis is talking and acting while on the phone, and that made him more confused of what’s happening. “Kuya, you need to come to the nearest hospital… I brought Denise to the hospital because she says she’s in pain. The doctor then said that the inflammation has been verified as severe. She needs an immediate transplant of kidney. Denise needs you in her side, right now…”

Denton did not waste any time and immediately left the place. He was dashing through the corridor of the hospital until he saw Dennis who was also crying in front of the room where Dennis was being taken care of the doctors. “Dennis,” he muttered, standing beside his younger brother who was pouring his eyes out. “What really happened?” He looked at his little daughter who was awfully being treated inside the room. He bawled his eyes out at that time. Seeing all that equipment that is connected to Denise is already hard for him. It is even hard that he can see his little one who was suffering and was obviously tearing a lot.

“We went out, as to her request…” Dennis explained. Denton already knew that Dennis was going to tell that. It is Denise’s everyday request, and Dennis was like the genie to always grant the little girl’s wish. “She played all day long that I cannot even notice that she’s suffering. When we went home, she started complaining about the pain she is feeling and I saw that her right stomach was full of bruises so I immediately brought her to the hospital, leaving Donna to our neighbor.”

Denton sighed. “You could have looked at her more,” Dennis half-scowled. He placed his palm on his forehead, taking all the blame onto him. It cost him minutes before opening his mouth and talked to his brother. “What did the doctor tell you? How would they treat my daughter?”

“Denise is in a critical condition now, and she needed an urgent kidney transplant already. Fortunately, the doctors have already found a match for her…” Dennis paused talking. Denton looked at him, asking more from him. “The only problem we have… is that the transplant and all the treatments may cost a gold. The estimated cost for this is more or less five million dollars. Where would we get such an amount?”

Denton stood up and faced his brother. “Tell the doctor to do the kidney transplant as soon as possible. Tell him that they already have my permission to do the transplant. I will be back. I will find the money to pay the expenses.” He walked through the corridor and stopped in front of the comfort room. He entered the comfort room and stopped in front of the faucet. He grabbed the black piece of paper that was inside of his pocket. “It’s not that bad to believe in something that may never really exist…”