This choice: Hank Smits- a 45 year old married construction worker • Go Back... “Clear the area! Clear the area” a gruff voice pierced through the cold February mist.
Men wearing carhart, orange vests and construction helmets scurried about a crumbling, dilapidated factory in the abandoned portion of Gary, Indiana.
Hank Smits found a secure area behind a large concrete mixing truck on the outside of the building. Hank was your typical looking 40 something blue collar worker from middle America. He was tall, 6’3, a little pudgy (courtesy of the beer) and sported a graying black stubble across his face. Hank was wearing “the uniform,” consisting of a pair of jeans, a tan carhart jacket, and his steel toed boots.
He was soon joined by his best friend Steve, “Gotta love demolition day Hank! Like the 4th of July out here.”
Steve struggled to catch his breath. He was roughly the same age as Hank, but clearly hadn’t made his health a priority. Steve wore glasses, was probably all of 5’2, but weighed 300 pounds and kept his portly face clean shaven. Additionally he smoked and drank like a sailor.
Steve struggled to catch his breath as he pulled up on his jeans which were in a constant state of falling down, “so you think one explosion will do it, or two?”
Hank chuckled at the sight of Steve struggling to catch his breath, “It’s got to be one today. Bet you two beers at the Collar.”
“You’ve got a deal” Steve replied.
Shortly after, a loud explosion rang from inside of the factory. Dust, debris, and smoke filled the air. After a few moments an “all clear” filled the air.
“What did I tell you?” Hank said smiling to Steve.
“Yeah yeah. But only two. We both need to get home after last week.”
––––––––––––––––
“What harm is one more beer Steve?”
“Are you kidding me Hank? We got shitfaced and had to be picked up by our wives. Sherry nearly killed me. Didn’t Christy get mad at you?”
“Nah man. She could give a shit. If I pay the bills that’s all she cares about man. She doesn’t give a shit about me.” Hank responded.
Hank and Steve were sitting at their usual spot at the “Blue Collar,” their absolute favorite watering hole. It was a haunt for all the guys on their crew, and was kind of like their second home. The place screamed dive bar. Beer signs, neon lights, and an old Jukebox in the corner rang out tuns. Hank and Steve were seated at their usual bar stools at the end of the bar.
Steve tried to cheer up his pal, “Come on man. She must like you. Hasn’t divorced you yet.”
“Key word is yet Steve. She fucking hates me. Shit man…I don’t even sleep in the same bed as her anymore.”
“Well at least your kids…” Steve started to say.
“Her kids Steve. They aren’t mine. Kids from her prior relationship. They don’t even call me Dad, despite all I’ve done for them.” Hank interrupted.
“Well I dunno man. I don’t have stepkids myself, but maybe you should do something about it.”
Hank grabbed his half full beer and chugged the rest of it. He let out a low burp and motioned to Steve, “should we get out of here?”
Steve nodded and the two men settled their tabs.
They both stumbled out into the parking lot that was shared with a Speedway gas station. Both men realized their slightly inebriated condition, nodded and said “coffee” instantaneously.
The men walked into the Speedway convenience store, as they had hundreds of times before, and went to grab their coffee.
Steve went to the counter first and instinctively inquired into lotto tickets, “so Taj, any lotto deals?”
The middle eastern clerk looked at a list behind the counter, “nothing crazy right now”
Hank interjected, “what’s the cheapest one?”
Taj looked back at the list, “looks like Newlife. Just $1.”
Hank chuckled and threw some change on the counter for the coffee and the Newlife ticket, “Screw it. Why not? Get me and Steve here some Newlife tickets.”
Taj rang them up and soon both Steve and Hank were outside their cars in the parking lot. Hank handed Steve the suspiciously long Newlife ticket. The thing looked like a CVS receipt.
Steve looked it over and saw tons of fine print, “you ever seen a lotto ticket with this much writing on it?”
“Who cares man? Let’s just scratch em’ off” Hank gruffly replied.
Hank handed Steve a quarter and both men started to scratch away. Before long Hank heard Steve slowly mutter, “Welllll I’ll be damned. Looks like I’m a winner.”
“No shit?” Hank chuckled in response while continuing to scratch. Hank looked down and was shocked to see “WINNER” in large, bold red letters on his ticket as well, “I can’t believe it. What are the odds that the two of us, buying tickets at the same gas station, would end up getting winning lotto tickets?”
“I dunno man! This is fucking crazy though. I wonder what we’ve won?” Steve responded.
“Good question….”
Without skipping a moment, both Hank and Steve’s tickets began to glow in a neon blue light. Without warning, a large holographic screen illuminated from their tickets. The screen looked as real as a iPad floating in front of them, but was purely holographic. Text began to appear on the screen along with a woman’s voice reading along:
“Congratulations. You have won one of only one hundred, free, no cost, lifetime membership in Newlife’s private, member’s only, town: a community of 50,000 located in sunny Miami, Florida called Newtown. Given the limited nature of membership availability at Newtown, this offer shall only be available to you for a period of five minutes starting after this message. If you fail to accept the membership in the five minute time frame, your free membership shall be null and void. We sincerely hope that you will chose to join us in the sun here at Newtown. For further terms and conditions, please click in the indicated area. To accept the membership, please select “Accept Offer” on the following screen. We hope to see you soon!”
Suddenly, the text disappeared and was replaced by an analog clock ticking down from five minutes. Below the clock were two holographic buttons: one stated “Accept Offer,” the other “Reject Offer.” Additionally, in the corner of the holographic screen was a smaller, additional button that stated, “terms and conditions.”
“Well I’ll be damned” muttered Hank, staring at the screen in front of him. He looked over at Steve who had the same exact screen floating in front of him as well.
Steve was jacked up by the whole situation and was grinning from ear to ear, “This is crazy man! Can you believe it? Free, no cost membership down in Florida baby!”
Hank couldn’t help but feel the same sense of excitement and joy, “We’ve got to accept this, right? Surely there some catch, no?”
Steve shrugged his shoulders, “I mean I suppose, but it can’t be that bad. Plus we only have five minutes.”
Hank quizzically clicked on the “terms and conditions” button and was sent to a different screen that had page after page of small print text along with a “back” button.
“Yeah, there is a zero percent chance I read any of that” Hank chuckled as he hit the back button. Steve started thinking of all the possibilities, “Even if it is a time share, or something, it would be great for me and Sherry to get down to Florida more. We love it down there. Plus, it wouldn’t be bad if my best friend also was able to do the same thing. This is like a dream come true.”
“Yeah you’re right man. What do you say we go for it? We only have two minutes left to decide.”
Steve nodded in agreement, “I’m in if you’re in man.”
“Alright man, let’s do it.” Hank replied.
Both men clicked the “Accept Offer” button and the familiar woman’s voice rang out:
“Thank you for accepting free, lifelong membership at Newtown. Your new life awaits! Please prepare for transportation.”
“Transportation?” Hank muttered. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, his saw a flash of bright light where Steve had been standing, and it appeared that Steve had disappeared. Suddenly, a bright light filled Hank’s vision, followed by nothing but darkness.
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