A dollar and a Dream

A Dollar and a Dream

Chris is your average hard worker. Works two jobs to support his mom and siblings. Goes to work, plays basketball on the weekends and repeat. Really your average blue collar worker. Chris is the only person close to his grandmother in the family. Cut off for her streak of crime back in the day no one else would be bothered with her. So on one faithful night she passed and the family didn’t blink an eye. That is except Chris. Chris couldn’t eat, and called out of work two days in a row. He never missed a day in all his years at both jobs, which prompted coworkers assuming the worst to contact him all day. Chris told everyone he was just fine even though deep down he felt his heart breaking. He then receives a call, “hello Chris I was your grandmother’s lawyer, she didn’t have much but she left you her life savings. A little under $21,000.” Still sad Chris didn’t pay much mind to it. He worked so hard so he had barely any debt piled up. He went back to work and continued business as usual, starting to get in better spirits. He takes a picture of the cash he has and posts it on social media with the hashtag Ballin. Chris found it odd to have 100 likes in less than an hour as none of his other posts have even been close to that.

Then he felt the shift, a call comes in, someone he hasn’t spoken with in 10 years. “What’s up bro how’s the family? Hope everyone is good you were always my boy. “ Chris thought nothing of it but found it odd since they haven’t talked in so long. “Listen man I’m really on hard times and was wondering if you could lend a hand.” Chris doesn’t respond. A couple minutes later he gets a call from his cousin, the same one who turned his back on grandma in her time of need. “What makes you so special he asks? How could she leave you everything like you were her only family.” Chris now irate yells back I was her only family ! No one was there for her and if it weren’t for me she would have died all alone ! The cousin replies back with an irritated tone “listen, me and dad need some help we can’t pay all these bills on our own.” Chris hangs us and proceeded to ignore the next 3 calls from his cousin. Over the next couple of days this trend continues. Calls from family he’s never heard of. Friends he had no idea were still friends, and coworkers who he’d never befriended. They were all told no but no one seemed to take the hint.

Exhausted by the whole ordeal a stressed Chris talks to his girlfriend. I mean I just don’t know what to do, how does everyone expect me to help them with only 20,000 dollars. “Does everyone know how much it was? What if they just assumed it was more than that.” That’s a good point, but still it’s so selfish. “That’s true, so you need to make a choice, either put it in a bank or help out who you decide to help”. This weighs heavy on Chris’ mind for a few days. Since no ones knows how much I have I can help out a couple of people here and there. Chris tries to give half to his mother as a gesture of good faith. She turns to him and says “What you choose to do with that money is your choice but I will not have anything to do with that woman’s money.” Confused, Chris has to think of another plan. He calls his cousin and asks him how much he needs. He replies “I think we deserve half.” Chris says well it was only $10,000. He says that’s fine thank you so much we could really use it. He then dibbles and dabbles in helping people. In total he helps out a couple of friends until he gets a little too excited and before you know it he only has $5,000 left of his own. He tells his girlfriend let’s go on a trip with this money, the trip to Hawaii you always wanted. She’s ecstatic and hugs him. “You’re the best that means the world to me.” Chris then gets a call from his friend Max a couple days later. Max has been close since grade school, never asking for a favor and always had Chris’ back. “What’s up bro I had a business idea I wanted to run by you. I’ve been super invested in this stock and it’s projected to rise, I have $5,000 invested I was thinking if you put up another $5,000 we could kill on the return.” Chris says he’ll think about it and hangs up. Not you too he says to himself before contemplating helping his childhood friend. He thinks about it for a couple of days and says Max has never done me wrong so I should help him out. He sends Max the money and remorsefully calls his girl to tell her what he’s done. Understandably livid she yells “how could you!” Trying to get her to calm down he says I’ll be home in a half hour we can talk about this. “Don’t even bother I’ll head into work early I can’t stand you!”

Chris knows she can’t use her phone at work so he rushes down to her job to catch her so she won’t be mad all day. In the midst of his mad dash he blows a red light and is t-boned in an accident. The car flips over a couple of times and Chris is left lying there. He’s taken to the nearest hospital in critical condition. A couple of days pass with Chris’ girlfriend and mother at his side. The doctor comes in and says he’ll make it but he’s suffered a traumatic brain injury. If he doesn’t receive this surgery he may well be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Sobbing the family asks he has insurance when can he get the procedure. The doctor replies “well that’s the thing, the procedure is so risky it’s not covered by insurance. The cost would run you a little more than $20,000.” The family is in shock. The mother says “ well he should have that inheritance right?! I should be able to pull together the rest.” Chris’ girlfriend responds disappointed, “no he used all of it to help a bunch of people. Wait maybe those people would help him now that he’s in need, it’s worth a try. Chris kept track of everyone he helped in his little black book, years of good deeds.” They looked for each individual person and wrote them, reminding them of good deeds. They all remembered but none were eager to help. So they make a post off his pages and theirs saying how much help he needs from his loved ones. They get a couple of likes and donations but in total they had a little under 500 dollars. They couldn’t believe it , with so many people receiving help they could barely return the favor. His girlfriend called the cousin he gave the majority of his money to, for days they got no response. Chris’ girlfriend spent nights by his bedside, virtually stopping everything she had going on. The doctor walks in solemnly, “Listen we tried to hold it off for as long as we could but the hospital is overbooked and they will be freeing up this room within the next two days.” Sobbing uncontrollably the mother and girlfriend go over plans. We can’t possibly get that money that fast and I don’t have the credit for a loan, they start to feel hopeless when they see this blur run past. Looking confused they wonder what is was then it comes back. Max bursts into the room and yells “I came as soon as I heard.” They explain the situation to Max who has a big smile on his face. “How could you smile at a time like this” his mom asks. “You don’t understand, those people Chris helped I was one of them. He gave me $5,000 to invest and I told him I would cover it if it failed.” Well that only leaves us with $5,000 then which isn’t enough. “No you don’t understand, it didn’t fail. The $5,000 he invested turned into $100,000 and he owns half!” Chris’ mom bolts out the room like her first name was Usain. Max turns to his girlfriend and says ” You know, I never knew he won any money? Before he gave me the money he made me promise everything would stay the same and I wasn’t just acting nice because he came into some money. I told him I didn’t even know he came into some money because I deleted social media to focus, he damn near had tears in eyes!” In comes the mother practically dragging the doctor back into the room and yells, tell him what you told me! The doctor has a smile on his face “I guess good things do come to those who wait.” Chris received his surgery and wakes up to a room full of love. “Almost thought we lost you there” says Max. Looking confused Chris says who are you people? Everyone looks shocked then he lets out a loud laugh and says I’m just joking. They all laugh and hug him with a look of gratitude for Max. Chris’ mom looks at Max and says “You know, I always had a good feeling about this one.” The family laughs as the view fades out.