New Year’s Bet

A remarkable number of people bet on promises they know are too good to be true.Carl Mendenhall came to their houses on some New Year’s Eves — other years they went to his.

Blizzards, sub-zeros temperatures, icy roads, nothing stopped the three families from being together.

Carl had a face made for making kids laugh and the more beer he drank the more useful that face became. “I’m a card.” he liked to say about himself. (‘A card’ used to mean someone who jokes around.)

The Weichels and the Mendenhalls and the kids’ parents played poker and shared limburger cheese, pickled pigs’ feet, whiskey and such. The stationary tube in the basement was filled to the top with chipped ice and soft drinks. The kids could eat and drink as much as they wanted that one night of the year. Every light in the house was lit, including the fake fireplace and the enameled sconces over the mantel. It was a show of good cheer.

One New Year’s Eve, Carl offered a wager to the younger kids, He bet them they couldn’t stay awake until midnight.

“Go get one of your dollars and put it there in the middle of the floor where we can keep an eye on it.” he said to them.

“If you can stay awake until the new year, you win. You can pick that dollar right up and put it in your pocket. It’s yours to spend anyway you want.”

The kids’ parents and older siblings tried to explain Carl’s scam. But what with the sugar and the freedom they enjoyed that night, the little ones wanted nothing more than to believe.

This New Year’s Eve is a particularly good time to remember Carl Mendenhall and his trick.

During the past year a remarkable number of people — not a majority but enough to make a difference — placed a bet on promises they know are too good to be true.

And now we all have a dollar sitting on the floor, at risk.

But this time the bet is going to be harder to win. Instead of staying awake until midnight we’ll have stay awake for the next four years.