8. Dip In the Pool
First Published: 1952
William Botibol is travelling on a ship, and there is going to be an auction for charity in which the passengers bid for the number of miles that the ship is going to cover in 24 hours. There is a storm, and when he asks the crew, they confirm that the ship has slowed down due to the bad weather. William is certain that he can win the money of the pool, and then he will be able to buy a convertible and surprise his wife/girlfriend. So he bids almost all his savings on the lowest numbers.
The next day dawns sunny and cloudless, and he realises that he is going to lose all the money. So he comes up with an idea. If someone were to fall overboard, the ship would have to stop, turn round and rescue the person. And that will make sure he wins the money. So he decides to jump into the water, but he needs a witness. There is an old woman on the deck, and he talks to her, to make sure that she is neither blind nor deaf, and he needs to find out whether she has taken part in the auction. He talks to the woman, so she is perfectly healthy and she has not even heard of the auction. When the woman is distracted, he jumps overboard and cries 'help'. The woman is confused, seeing William struggling in the water. Then another woman appears, and the older woman tells her about the man falling overboard, but the second woman does not believe her as it seems that she is her carer, and the older woman has dementia. The carer drags the woman away from the deck, while the old woman says that the man was very kind and he even waved at her.
This is the kind of story that the person with malevolent intentions gets his comeuppance. I loved it.
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