The Man Who Folded Himself. David Gerrold
was a little disappointed that he didn’t want to come with me to collect our winnings; after all, they were as much his as they were mine. (I’m getting my tenses confused—they were all mine, but it seemed like ours.) Didn’t he care about the money?
No matter. I found my way down to the windows to turn my tickets in—that is, I tried to turn my tickets in. There were some forms to be filled out first, and a notification for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. And I had to show my driver’s license for identification and my credit cards too. The track manager was beaming at me and kept shaking my hand and wanting to know if I would please wait for the photographers and reporters.
At first I was pleased with the idea, but something inside me went twang—just a warning sensation, that’s all, but it was enough. “I don’t want any publicity,” I said; now I knew why Don had beaten such a hasty retreat.
I shook off the track manager and collected my check for $57,600 as quickly as possible. It felt like a mighty powerful piece of paper; I was almost afraid to put it in my pocket. I must have walked out to the parking lot like my pants were on fire. I was that nervous and excited.
Don was sitting on the passenger side, looking thoughtful. I was too giddy to notice. “You want to see the check?” I asked, waving it at him.
He shook his head. “I’ve already seen it.” Then he pulled it out of his pocket to show me—his check for $57,600. He’d had it with him all the time!
I blinked from one to the other. They were identical, even down to the last curlicue on the signature.
“Hey!” I said. “Two checks!” Why don’t we cash them both?”
Don looked at me. “We can’t. Think about it. If you cash yours, how do I get it back so I can cash it?”
He was right, of course. I wanted to hit myself for being so stupid. It was the same check. He—I—we just hadn’t cashed it yet. He slipped it back into his pocket; I did the same with mine. Well, at least it was nice to know I wasn’t going to lose it.
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