A Shot in the Dark

One quick study of the hand of five cards showed a royal flush in Clubs. Orry had just won $400.00! He had come here hoping that something like this would happen. Now that it had, he couldn't believe it.

Ginger came over and asked, "Are you going to play some more or do you want to cash out?" Orry intended to collect and then dash with the cash before anyone recognized him, so he said, "I'll cash out now, thanks."

They headed for the bar cash register where Ginger punched the right keys until the till drawer slid open. She pulled out four, one hundred dollar bills and held them out toward Orry.

Before he could grab them from her, the bar's front door flew open. Bright lights crashed into the dimness of the bar and a general commotion ensued. The lights surrounded a man in a double-breasted suit as he stepped through the door and into the bar. Men with cameras trained on the leader of the entourage followed, making quick adjustments on their cameras. A younger one with shaggy blond hair trained his camera on bar patrons.

Orry turned to leave and came face to face with the handful of cash that Ginger was still trying to give him. As he reached for it, the man in the limelight shouted, "Him! The guy at the register!" and began making his way around the pool tables toward Orry. The lights and cameras followed. Finding his escape blocked by gathering patrons, Orry turned to face the charging man in the suit.

"Gorgon's the name, Jeff Gorgon," he spoke as he approached with his right hand extended. "Looks like you are having a lucky night Mr…" he paused, waiting for Orry to fill in the blank. When no answer came, Gorgon looked at Ginger for his answer.

She shrugged. "He's not a regular. Just comes in once in a while. He won $400 bucks at video poker a few minutes ago."

Gorgon tried again, still standing with his right hand extended. "Mister, I'd like to shake your hand because you just may be the luckiest man in the country tonight!"

Gunner," he offered, "Orry Gunner, and what do you mean luckiest man in the country? It was only $400."

"Mr. Gunner, uh, may I call you Orry?" Orry nodded that it was ok. "Orry, like I said, I am Jeff Gorgon host of A SHOT IN THE DARK, the reality game show that offers huge prizes to unsuspecting contestants every week."

Orry was familiar with the hugely popular program, and realized that the man in front of him was, indeed, the host of the show. He had watched it a time or two, enough to understand the basic premise. The show's entourage would charge into a randomly chosen establishment, pick out one individual and challenge him or her to a test of skill. Far as he knew, no one had ever won the prize Jeff Gorgon offered. They were probably too unnerved by the whole commotion of lights, cameras, Gorgon's persona and the size of the prize.

"Orry, I am prepared to challenge you to a test of skill here tonight. You may choose to try or you may decide not too. If you choose not to try the challenge, I will give you $1,000 anyway for being chosen. Then we will all pack up and offer the prize to another contestant at another location. If you choose to try our test and are successful, we will give you $100,000!" He paused to let this sink in. "How about it Orry? Would you like to hear what our challenge is tonight?"

Orry was totally blown away. What were the odds that A SHOT IN THE DARK would walk in here when he was trying to quietly win a few bucks? If he accepted, this whole encounter would be aired to homes across the country, including his Mom's. She would know he'd been in a bar playing video poker. No wait, he thought. She wouldn't know he was gambling. Maybe he could come up with some story to explain how he happened to be there and got picked to play. $100,000. Surely he could come up with some believable explanation.

Gorgon was waiting. Orry swallowed once. "Ok, I'll do it. What's the challenge?"

Jeff Gorgon wore the "I knew you'd want to try," look while those in the room around them roared. The cameras were rolling as Gorgon directed everyone's attention to the far end of the bar. No one had noticed when a couple of crewmen had carried in a tall draped object. "Tom," he addressed the crewman closest to the mystery game, "please remove the cover from tonight's challenge."

With a flourish, Tom grasped the top of the cover and lifted it up and away. A wheel was revealed, which looked like a wheel of fortune standing on a pole. It was a large dartboard.

"Orry, there is your challenge and here is your dart." He reached into his inside suit jacket pocket and produced a case. A camera focused on the case as Gorgon opened it. Inside was a single dart that he offered to Orry in a classic two-handed gesture. "What we're challenging you to do is take this dart at a distance of 30 feet and hit the bulls eye on the target we have set up at the end of the bar."

Orry reached in and picked the dart out of the case.

"Follow me," instructed Gorgon as he led Orry to a line that had been taped on the floor, exactly 30 feet from the dartboard. With both hands, he ushered the contestant to the line, facing the target over by the far wall. "Whenever you are ready."

Orry took a deep breath, and then slowly blew it out. He was trying to relax. Everything about this situation had him shaking. Another breathe…

"Oh wait!" shouted Gorgon. "I forgot one thing!"

Orry's nerves took a bad beating with that one.

Gorgon called out to Tom. "Set 'er in motion Tom." Tom walked over and gave the dartboard a push. It began rocking left and right like a metronome. "You have 30 seconds Mr. Gunner." He stepped back, now convinced that the sponsors' $100,000 was safe for another week.

Orry Gunner was not relaxed. He was not confident and he was definitely not happy with Jeff Gorgon. Orry Gunner was upset!

When he was a teenager he had a similar experience. At the county fair, there was a booth that challenged people to try to knock three heavy fuzzy fringed dolls off of a ledge by throwing three baseballs at them. They were set side by side and looked like furry clowns. "Three tries for 50 cents," the vendor called out. "You," he said, pointing at Orry. "You're a strong looking young man. Come on and give it a try."

Orry had decided to try because the vendor had singled him out and he didn't want all the people who had heard the challenge to think he was afraid to try. He gave the vendor two quarters and the vendor gave him three worn baseballs.

Orry took his stance. He envisioned himself a pitcher on the mound of a baseball diamond. This was easy to do because he had pitched for his high school baseball team. With the ball in his large left hand, he wound up and threw, knocking the left doll off the table but leaving the other two unmoved. "Man," he thought to himself, "Those dolls must weigh tens pounds each!"

The vendor coaxed him to throw the second ball. "He was just lucky," he told the crowd. "Come on kid, let's see what you got."

Orry again took his stance and threw the second ball, striking the right doll and sending it flying off the back of the table. That left one.

The people watching encouraged Orry to get that third one. Orry was confident that he would. He toed the rudder and began the windup for his third ball. At the point where he was just about to bring the ball forward and throw, the vendor suddenly yelled loudly, "You're gonna miss!" Jarred, Orry jerked as he threw and the ball sailed wildly above the remaining doll.

"Nice try kid," said the vendor. Then looking out into the crowd that had gathered while Orry participated, he hollered out, "Who's next? This guy couldn't do it, but maybe you can!"

Orry had quietly slipped away, still not believing how unfair the vendor had been and disappointed that he had failed.

Now another 'vendor' had done it to him again. Orry would be the first to admit that he was not good at darts to begin with and now this new wrinkle made the challenge impossible. He saw now that all Gorgon wanted was to set the stage for a good laugh at Orry's expense. There was nothing he could do to avoid it now. The dart would probably miss by a country mile. The crowd of bar patrons and the SHOT IN THE DARK crew would have their laugh. Worse yet, his Mom, family and friends could all see it too, when the episode aired.

He was inwardly enraged as he gripped the dart and went into a windup that would make Roger Clemens proud. With a high leg kick and a yelling grunt he brought his left arm forward and heaved the dart across the room in the direction of the tick-tocking target. He wasn't even sure if his eyes were open when he released the missile but they were definitely closed as he finished his throw. He wished he could close his ears and not hear the laughter. After a couple of seconds the laughter had not started yet. With his eyes still shut and hearing no laughter he thought maybe the crowd was feeling sorry for him and his predicament. He waited for the collective 'awes' that would come when everyone realized that he had indeed been unable to do the impossible. There was still no sound.

Tom's voice, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was saying, strained out, "He hit the bulls eye." Then a little stronger voiced, he continued, "I don't believe it, he hit the bulls eye!" Then in full voice he shouted, "He won the $100,000! He hit the bulls eye!"

Orry's eyes popped open. He looked at Gorgon who was staring at Tom and the dartboard, his mouth open wide enough to swallow $100,000 in ones. The bar erupted into a shouting, whooping and hollering melee. The cameras caught all the action as Ginger grabbed Orry in an embrace and planted a kiss on his cheek. Guys near him were yelling, "I can't believe it!" and pounding him on the back in congratulations.

Gorgon moved down to verify that the dart had indeed pierced the ½ inch in diameter center of the moving target. It was there all right, buried all the way to the body of the dart. The point had probably penetrated all the way through and poked out the back. Looking at the camera and shaking his head, he beckoned for Orry to come join him.

As he made his way toward Gorgon he was congratulated from both sides. The fellow, who had stirred him to realize that he'd won the $400, pulled alongside Orry and said loudly into his ear, "Wow, you sure are one lucky son of a gun!"

Gorgon turned Orry to face the cameras and put his left arm around his shoulders while holding the mike in his right hand. "Well folks," he said to the closest camera, "Mr. Orry Gunner has just met our challenge and won $100,000!" Turning slightly to look at the now beaming contestant, he continued, "Orry, that was some dart. Were you surprised that it hit the center like that?"

Orry didn't speak. He was beaming though as he nodded that, yes, he was surprised.

The game show host chuckled and looked around to the audience. "He's speechless, folks. Ok Orry! You've met the $100,000 challenge. Now you have a choice to make. The $100,000 is yours to keep. The question is do you want to use some of it to try to meet the $1,000,000 challenge?"