Dennis woke up lying face-first in a field at noon. His car sat twenty feet away with the driver’s door open, engine running, and headlights on. A half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels stood upright on the ground directly between him and the car, and the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” was playing on the radio. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there, nor could he remember what he had done the night before.
He pulled his iPhone from his pocket to check his messages. There were four. The first one, from his friend Gino, said, “Hey, whatever you told Johnson sure pissed him off. He cussed out Gomez and got fired. Called him a lying son of a bitch for not coming through on the incentive raises. Ha! Anyway, It’s a good thing you and Deborah got out of there when you did, and it was a good thing she was driving. Man, you were wasted. Gotta run. Talk to you Monday. Stay safe, champ.”
Dennis checked his next message. It was from his boss, Bill Gomez, who slurred, “Dennis, congratulations. You’re the new distribution manager of the Rocky Mountain Region. Come see me on Monday morning at 8 o’clock sharp. I know this is sudden, but we have to do something about office morale. It’s essential to the future of the company. You’ve always been a good worker, Dennis, a good company man. You can handle it. You’d be a fool not to take the promotion. We’ll see you on Monday.”
He rose to his feet slowly, unsteadily, and checked his third message. It was from his girlfriend Deborah. She said, “Baby, I’m sorry I left. I just needed some time to think. At least you were honest. You’re always honest when you’re drunk. And you’re right. I do need to find a job. I’ll start looking on Monday. I’ll call you tonight, OK? Thanks for being my sweetheart. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Let’s get together on Sunday. I have something special planned. Love you!”
Dennis reached into his back pocket and noticed that his wallet was missing. He checked his fourth message, which said, “Mr. Wheeler, this is Dick Weston, the manager from Gordon’s Bar. You left your wallet here. Your server found it right after you left. Believe it or not, the winning ticket from our evening lottery is in your wallet. You won 250 dollars! We open at 11. You can stop on by to pick up your wallet and winnings then if you’d like. Take care.”
Dennis gazed across the field and saw two deer staring at him. He shouted, “Don’t worry! It’s all good!” He walked past the bottle of Jack Daniels, climbed into his car, and headed over to Gordon’s Bar to pick up his lottery winnings and buy himself a burger.
