ben franklin's bet

Ben Franklin’s Bet (A Lesson in Thrift and Revenge) copyright 2012, Paul Hawkins ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------- “Come on, Ben, it’ll only take 15 minutes.” “Yes, but fifteen minutes is still a quarter of an hour, my good man, and an industrious man could make up to three good inventions in the time you’d have me waste on your shenanigans.” “You’re riding your reputation, Franklin – put your money where your mouth is.” “You’re on – because as I always say, ‘a penny won is a penny …’ “ “Just start inventin’, big mouth – the clock’s ticking.” Ben found it harder than he thought to invent three things in fifteen minutes, but only because the pressure was on him and he had been called out in the town square. Still, in the end, he invented a kind of pen that didn’t leak as much ink, a small but useful improvement to the printing press, and then he hung a key on a kite and got lightning to strike it. They disputed whether that last one counted as an invention, so Ben let the man off the hook. But in Ben’s mind it counted. It was an invention of, well, something. Anyways he aggrandized it in his diary and in his personal book of smug thoughts. But no one called out Ben Franklin, and later he cunningly had the man framed for treason. You lose, Benedict Arnold. You lose big time. Game, set, and match. Invent this, m* f*. No one crossed “The Franklin.” The End

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Ben Franklin's Bet - An All-American Lesson in Thrift and Revenge

TRANSCRIPT

Ben Franklin’s Bet (A Lesson in Thrift and Revenge)

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“Come on, Ben, it’ll only take 15 minutes.”

“Yes, but fifteen minutes is still a quarter of an hour, my good man, and an industrious man could make up to three good inventions in the time you’d have me waste on your shenanigans.”

“You’re riding your reputation, Franklin – put your money where your mouth is.”

“You’re on – because as I always say, ‘a penny won is a penny …’ “

“Just start inventin’, big mouth – the clock’s ticking.”

Ben found it harder than he thought to invent three things in fifteen minutes, but only because the pressure was on him and he had been called out in the town square. Still, in the end, he invented a kind of pen that didn’t leak as much ink, a small but useful improvement to the printing press, and then he hung a key on a kite and got lightning to strike it.

They disputed whether that last one counted as an invention, so Ben let the man off the hook. But in Ben’s mind it counted. It was an invention of, well, something. Anyways he aggrandized it in his diary and in his personal book of smug thoughts.

But no one called out Ben Franklin, and later he cunningly had the man framed for treason. You lose, Benedict Arnold. You lose big time. Game, set, and match. Invent this, m* f*. No one crossed “The Franklin.”

The End

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About the Author:

American author. I am happy to be a child of the space age and still set my sights on great things. I put humor in everything I write because that is my disposition. If I chronicle the 20th century it is only because I have not given up on the 21st.

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