Today, my hard work, patience rather, was on bet. Today was the day when my 300 dollars which I had earned or say got as pocket money since five years was on bet. One week ago I did a very stupid thing, I had put a bet on Manchester United, a bet of all my money I have ever got or earned.

I had put a bet on the match Chelsea VS Manchester United. Now let me put forth the exact narration from my point of view and in past tense.

The match has begun. I was feeling tense .My hands were shaking, speaking exactly, trembling with fear, my 300$s. Then I thought less concentrate on the match. It was a fine day, no chance of any rains.  No chance of “NO MATCH – NO BET” .So lets see what Manchester can do for me. Seeing the stats, anyone would easily bet on Manchester united. But who knew that their captain would get injured the morning of the day planned to be the match. So lets face it, the ball is moving all around, but nowhere near any goalpost. It is the 37th minute and “What the Hell”, Chelsea’s defender gave a huge kick straight to the goalkeeper, he kicked it and it slipped past the leg just a few meters from the goalpost. Chelsea’s strikers rushed and took the cause of mistake and GOAL!!! But not one which would bring happiness to me, I should have had said “Alas! Goal!”, but I didn’t.

Within five minutes there was another goal in penalty. Manchester also got a penalty in the 42nd minute as well as 44th minute and I thought: when the penalty was going on, that these two should have been goal, as most commonly, the last minutes of the game, or the first half, result in a goal. But my expectations were drowned, my spirits fell.

Half time over, for me to win the bet, Manchester must score three goals in 45 minutes.

1:15, my mind gets astray very easily, so big tension in front of me and stupid me, practicing maths here.

The sound of whistle awoke me from my thoughts. OK focus, if you lose hope, what will Manchester do, I joked to myself. What! Can people not joke to themselves when tense?

Now to match, Chelsea was forced to the back foot due to the continuous attacks by Manchester, to me it seemed, having a 2-0 lead and 40 minutes left, any team would like to focus on defense. One thing I noticed was some Chelsea player positioned in the far north, near the goal post. The air smelled something bad was to happen. It was the 37th minute of the 2nd half; no progress as yet for Manchester, Chelsea’s goalkeeper was tired.

He seemed to have planned something, but the ball hadn’t reached him even once in the second half. 39th minute, Manchester united seemed to get a boost up, continuous attacks.

My spirits rose, we got a penalty, the goalkeeper looked happy, I was certain that this tired goalkeeper cannot save a penalty. Idiot striker, he hit the ball directly on the center of the goalpost, thinking as if the goalkeeper would jump away and miss the ball. But that goalkeeper, tired as he was didn’t even moved an inch, he got the ball, and kicked it hard far to the other side of the ground, I thought he had gone mad, but HELL, it is the 44th minute by now, and the ball has reach the player standing near the goalpost, how could I have forgotten him, dear me, and he is the captain of Chelsea, without wasting any moment he took the cause of surprise and GOAL, sorry “Alas! Goal!” would be better.

Time to pay the money, straight to the betting office I went and offered the money, smiling, rather sadly. The old man (the person with whom I had the bet) said,” I don’t want it boy, I staked 35k (35000$) on Chelsea and won the stake, so I forgive you. I know that after earning 35k, 300$ wont matter to me, but losing 300$ will be a great disaster for a 13 year old child. So I forgive you, if you promise me that you will never play such a bet or any other gamble or risky game again in your childhood.

I agreed merrily, and promised to myself that “I will never bet again until I am older”

HAPPY ENDING