#
 anada   "Ten Dollar                                              #          
 221         Temptations"              +###           +###    +####    +###  
                                      #    #  #  #   #    #  #    #   #    # 
                                by   #     #  # ##  #     #  #    #  #     # 
 28                        Oregano   #    .#  ## #  #    .#  #   .#  #    .# 
 nov                                  *###  * #   *  *###  * *###  *  *###  *
 2000 .+#################################################################.net

        I write now in the silence of my bunker.  Home, alone, safe.  There
 were dangers I was not aware of facing me today, last night, tomorrow.  

        Ten dollars in my pocket, my wallet, really, and a credit card.  But
 Pizza Hut does not take credit cards and if I were to survive to Saturday I
 would need the ten dollars to buy a Pizza Hut pizza.  Pizza Hut pizzas are
 two meals, dinner and the next day lunch.  I had to put off shopping on
 Saturday for the week’s groceries (on the credit card)  and my meals would
 run out Friday afernoon.  With no money I could not eat Friday night, I
 could not eat Saturday morning.  I needed that ten dollars the way a cancer
 patient needs chemo -- it would allow me to survive, if just for a short
 while.

        No big deal.  Right?  Hold onto the money.  Where is there a problem?
 Ahh, but this was Thursday night, and between Thursday night and Friday
 night come so many temptations that holding onto ten dollars is a great
 challenge that plumbs the depths of one’s soul.  My soul, my ten dollars, my
 spending habits.

        The first temptation was books.  I had not gotten any new books in
 two weeks and I went to one bookstore and then the other and they only had
 the book I wanted in hardcover, much more than ten dollars and plus the book
 came out so long ago I was outraged it would not be in paperback.

        Only when I was on my way home, disappointed, did I realize that I
 almost lost my chance to eat, that I would have been stuck Friday night and
 Saturday morning without meals.

        I rested, as I am allowed to do.  I sat on a bench and as I waited
 for nothing in particular, a cab pulled up and stopped in front of me.  I
 looked up and saw the cab there and thought that hey, I have ten dollars in
 my pocket and I could go for a cab ride.  Maybe go to the theatre and then
 back home, that would be kind of fun.  Ten dollars could be used to
 entertain me.  But then I remembered the pizza and I took a pass.  I prolly
 would have taken a pass anyay, but I liked the image of me as big spender
 riding a cab on a lark.  Me the king of transportation, onward driver, get
 me to the theare, and take the slow way, I have nothing but time and money
 to kill.

        The third temptation made me doubt my memory.  How could I keep
 forgetting that the ten dollars is reserved for pizza?

        Kim offered to get me anything I wanted from Whole Foods market.  I
 considered asking her for mozerella cheese, so fresh and handmade.  I almost 
 reached for my wallet when once again I recalled I would not be able to eat 
 tonight or tomorrow and all hope would be lost if I gave into farm-fresh 
 cheese.

        But now the fears are over, all the temptations are aside and I am in
 the bunker, hunkered down for the night, I have the ten dollars on my desk 
 here.  I will point to it as I type...there, I just pointed, and tonight, in 
 about an hour I will order my pizza and I will live another day and have 
 plenty of money in the future to go for cab rides, or eat cheese or buy 
 books.  Soon enough that door will open to a hot pizza.

 .+##########################################################################

 anada221 by Oregano                                                 (c) 2000
 ###################################################################anada.net