Creativing Writing Exercise - Bingo Cheater

Last night I got a phone call from Grandma. 

“Hey honey.  It’s Grandma. I’ve got a favor to ask you and its extremely top secret.”

“Um, okay Grandma.  What is it?” I replied, trying to not let her catch the laugh gathering in my throat.

“I need you to go to Monday Night Bingo for me tomorrow,” she quickly said.

Bingo.  Why in the world would I want to hang out with all of those old people?  They smell weird and I get uncomfortable when I catch the old ladies winking at me.

“Really Grandma?  Why?”

“I’ve got a mission for you to do.  I can’t go.  It’s the Lawrence Welk reunion show and I promised Sally I’d come over and watch it with her.  I’m pretty sure that Big Bob is cheating and I need you to get in there and figure out how he’s doing it.  He’s won the top prize for the past three weeks and I don’t think its luck that is helping him to win.  Can you do this for me honey?  You are so good at those video games you play and I know you want to be a detective when you grow up.  You can put this on your resume.”

“I guess I could look into it,” was my reply.  I will admit.  I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to investigate, although I thought this was absolutely ridiculous. Big Bob was like the oldest man in our town and used a rickety old walker that he always pokes me with when I am near him.  It irritates me to no end, but he seems to find it humorous.

“Oh honey! I knew you’d do this for your old Granny! Bingo starts at 7:00pm sharp! Don’t be late.  And whatever you do, no one can know why you are there.  Your Granny loves you!” She hung up the phone before I could respond.

The next night I put on my best shirt and tie and headed out to Bingo Night.  I got my driver’s license three weeks ago and was able to convince my parents to let me drive myself.  I showed up five minutes early and made sure to get a seat close to Big Bob.  He greeted me with a not-so-gentle poke in the ribs with one of the legs of his walker.  I tried to hide the pain and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder in return.

At 7:00pm sharp the first game of Bingo began.  I bought two cards and was doing a good job of managing my cards while also keeping an eye on Big Bob.  He seemed to be marking off his cards honestly and no cheating seemed to be going on.  In fact, Big Bob was doing terrible.  He didn’t win a single game of Bingo the entire night.

As we reached the final game of the night, Blackout, my awareness of Big Bob increased and I even forgot to mark off some of my numbers because I didn’t want to miss a single movement.  Nothing seemed awry and I began to think that Granny was crazy for thinking Big Bob was a cheat and I was beginning to regret accepting the mission she’d given me.

Suddenly, Big Bob began to have a coughing attack.  Everyone stopped as Bob coughed and coughed. I thought he was going to hack up a lung all of the coughing he was doing.  He bent over to and leaned against his walker.  While I doing this he did something very peculiar.  He accidentally kicked one of the tennis balls that was attached to the bottom of his walker and it rolled towards the Bingo Caller.  The Caller bent to picked it up and as he did, Bob let out a huge cough that had the sound of death in it.  

Everyone turned to look at Bob.  For some reason I kept my eye on the Caller.  He picked up the tennis ball and reached inside the ball and took out several number chips and put them in his pocket.  I could not believe my eyes.  Granny was right!  Big Bob was cheating and he wasn’t alone in his pursuits.  As soon as the Caller pocketed the number chips Big Bob quit coughing, took a drink of water and said he felt much better and was ready to proceed.

I was frozen.  I had just witnessed my first crime.  I couldn’t wait to tell Granny!