"I'd be delighted, Doctor." Roger Kindburg said. "Well, I'll need to start a few years ago."
The guests all nodded their heads.
"I was working at a grocery store, my fiancé and I," He motioned to the beautiful woman sitting next to him. "had been working together at that store for going at two years, when this all began.
"We were having a hard time paying our bills, as is common with anyone working a minimum wage job--"
"Excuse me, Mr. Kindburg..." An old woman interrupted him. "but how long ago was this?"
"It was four years ago, ma'am." He said with a smile. A look of bewilderment flooding over her face.
"I digress. My fiancé, Megan, and I were having a hard time paying our bills. We had pawned countless sentimental items in order to keep a roof over our heads. It was getting to the point where we wouldn't have too much time until we would be evicted. For those of you sitting here, at this table tonight, who aren't aware of how that feels, I envy you. It's a kind of shame that makes you sick to your stomach." Megan lowered her head.
"We were reaching our breaking point; Megan was asking her mother if she could move back in, but myself, I had no place to go, and as it was, I wouldn't be allowed to stay with Megan and her mother and sisters. Her mother and I didn't see eye to eye, and she felt I wasn't good enough for her daughter. But I didn't want Megan to worry about me, when she had a house waiting for her.
"So one day, the exact date and day of the week is was escape me, but I do remember it was an overcast day. I awoke early, I had to open the store. Megan woke with me, she prepared me a cup of coffee as I showered. When I was getting dressed she came into the bed room and I held her in my arms, she was crying. I held her close to me and I said,
"Don't worry, Darling. I have an idea that just might work. I'll need a month though."
"She pulled herself away from my chest and looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, her cheeks red from crying. She nodded and kissed me.
"I arrived to work thirty minutes earlier than I was scheduled, which I never did. The opening manager was there, sitting upstairs in the office. I walked in there and asked a favor."
"What was the favor?" Another old woman asked.
"I asked him for a one month's notice. It was an unusual request, and I knew that. But I begged him.
"Sir, I don't see much future for myself after Meg leaves. And so I'd like to try an experiment, if I may?"
"He must agreed to my experiment, which was; everyday he'd pay me a penny, but as the days went along he would double them. So the first day one, second day two, third day four, and so on. He was overjoyed by my proposition. And we signed an agreement form so that at the end of the thirty days I wouldn't be able to sue when I got my check. He must have thought I was losing my mind since Megan was leaving me.
"So for the next thirty days I worked and worked, just like it was any other month. I didn't bring any unnecessary attention to myself, not even when--on day fourteen--Megan left to her mother's. By day twenty I had been evicted and was living in my car, a 1985 Lincoln Towncar. Even still, I didn't bring any attention to myself. I was lucky enough to still have a month remaining on my gym membership. You see, I thought at the beginning of the year, as my New Year's Resolution, to buy an entire year membership. It was my own personal way of going, I thought if I had paid a few hundred dollars up front I'd be bound to go, some time or another.
"I used my membership to give myself access to the showers, not so much to stay fit. I kept myself as well groomed as I could with no money, it was a good thing Megan left her razors when she moved."
The whole dinner table chuckled at this.
"On day thirty, I worked my regular shift; I closed. The manager also closed, that way the to of us could do our exchange in an 'under-the-table' fashion."
"Well, Roger. Here you go."
"He handed me a check for sixty cents. I looked up at him, my face indifferent."
"Sir, I believe there's been a misunderstanding."
"I told him. He looked at me, confused."
"You said you'd work for thirty days, double payment, correct?"
"He said."
"I did, Sir. But I said a penny a day, and double that. Not double thirty."
"He raised an eyebrow."
"I believe the amount that you owe me is, Ten million, Seven hundred thirty-seven thousand, Four hundred eighteen, and Twenty-four cents...Before tax that is."
Roger scribbled a number on his napkin that lay discarded on the table. $10,737,418.24 --people gasped around the table.
"My manager looked at me like I had lost my mind. He even started laughing."
"How do you figure that, Roger?"
"He asked me. I walked over to the dry-erase board that sat next to his desk.
[Day One] 1+1=2
[Day Two] 2+2=4
[Day Three] 4+4=8
[Day Four] 8+8=16
[Day Five] 16+16=32
[Day Six] 32+32=64
[Day Seven] 64+64=128
[Day Eight] 128+128=256
[Day Nine] 256+256=512
[Day Ten] 512+512=1024
[Day Eleven] 1024+1024=2048
[Day Twelve] 2048+2048=4096
[Day Thirteen] 4096+4096=8192
[Day Fourteen]8192+8192=16384
[Day Fifteen] 16384+16384=32768
[Day Sixteen] 32768+32768=65536
[Day Seventeen] 65536+65536=131072
[Day Eighteen] 131072+131072=262144
[Day Nineteen] 262144+262144=524288
[Day Twenty] 524288+524288=1048576
[Day Twenty-One] 1048576+1048576=2097152
[Day Twenty-Two] 2097152+2097152=4194304
[Day Twenty-Three] 4194304+419304=8388608
[Day Twenty-Four] 8388608+8388608=16777216
[Day Twenty-Five] 16777216+16777216=33554432
[Day Twenty-Six] 33554432+33554432=67108864
[Day Twenty-Seven] 67108864+67108864=134217728
[Day Twenty-Eight] 134217728+134217728=268435456
[Day Twenty-Nine] 268435456+268435456=536870912
[Day Thirty] 536870912+536870912=1073741824
"Then I stepped away from the dry-erase board. His eyes were glazed over in confusion. He knew he had lost a lot of money, he knew he was most defiantly losing his job. That was all just simple addition I learned in my freshman year algebra 1 class. If the manager couldn't handle addition, then he wouldn't be able to handle the money in the registers, and we both knew that's what the higher-ups were going to say to him.
"He tried to take me to court for this, saying I tricked him. But the judge and the jury could all see he was the kind of idiot who didn't read the fine print. Also, the form he had me sign at the beginning of the month held him to his actions.
"The money was given to me, even though the judge looked down upon me. He claimed it was almost like cheating, like I was stealing from the company I had worked for. But that didn't bother me too much, everyone with money has had to do something dirty along the way, am I right?"
There was a murmur of agreement all across the dinner table.
"The trial didn't last more than a day, so I had enough time to go visit Megan at her Mother's for Christmas. I invested in Microsoft Stocks, and in Google Stocks...this was before they really took off. Well, Microsoft was still a big company, but that was before they released the X-Box. So I made quite a lot from those stocks, enough to buy Megan and I our own house, and start a family." The Roger smiled and kissed his wife on her cheek. The crowd clapped approvingly and they all smiled as well.
"That was a wonderful story, Roger." An old woman said to him as they left the dinner. "I too always appreciated the penny. I often saw them as the pawns in a game of chess, they're all capable of becoming a queen, but every once in a while one actually does, and it really turns the game on it's head."
-Sir Jestro
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