Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Expire (08/01/13)
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TITLE: Big Ronnie's Boat | Previous Challenge Entry
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08/07/13 -
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“I’m alright. You might want to check on the big man over there. ” My view reveals Big Ronnie had slid down.
I hear the moderator call out to Big Ronnie and he answers back that he is fine. He looks really sick. His big round face is beet red. I might just have a chance this year at winning this boat.
“Big Ronnie, you okay over there, man?” I call out to him. He and I been standing here for sixty two hours straight.
“I ain’t feeling so good Tonto. Feels like I got this boat on my chest.” As he tells me this his voice is short of breath.
“Come on, man. It’s just a boat. You been standing here with your hands on this thing going on three days now.” The moderator is teasing Big Ronnie but I can hear some seriousness in his voice also.
Behind me I can hear the shuffle of feet. It seems our fan club is returning from lunch. The smell of pizza from Manasco’s Deli floats my way and I realize someone brought their lunch with them. It’s torture really, to stand here with my hands on this boat, hungry and hot. The humidity and heat in August sucks the life out of a person. Top it off with hunger pains and a full bladder and well, you’ve got a guy that might just want to give up. Not this year though.
The air horn goes off indicating Big Ronnie and I have made it another hour. My hands keep sliding from all the sweat. Sliding is okay as long as they don’t come off. I’ve got an itch in my left ear.
“Teresa, be a sweetie and come over here and put your finger in my ear.” Teresa is the reporter from Channel 3 that’s doing the story.
“Sure thing, Hank. Let me just drop what I’m doing and come do that for you.” The sarcasm oozes out of this woman like the sweat oozing out of Big Ronnie’s brow over there.
The crowd behind me runs over to the other side of the boat. Big Ronnie must be going down. I’m winning this boat! The moderator is laughing as he grabs his headset to report that another has bit the dust.
Clump! Down went Big Ronnie like a mighty oak falling in the river. The moderator looks and me and gives me a thumbs up. Teresa rushes over with microphone in hand to interview me, the winner of a brand new 2014 Cougar Bass Boat. My arms feel like putty. I’d like to put one around her but I can’t lift a finger much less an arm.
“So, Champ, where are you taking this boat first? Lake Martin? Lake Tuscaloosa?” Her questions are coming fast and my brain can’t keep up. I need to go say something to Big Ronnie. He put up a good fight.
I make my way around the boat and through the crowd. One woman offers to give me a shoulder massage. I almost take her up on it until I see Big Ronnie on the ground.
“Big Ronnie, you okay? I shake him and put my ear to his nose. He’s not breathing.
“Call 911, call 911! Big Ronnie’s not breathing.”
As I watch the paramedics leave with Big Ronnie a few minutes later, I sit in my new bass boat and find it hard to be happy. Teresa has climbed in next to me and hands me a cold bottle of water.
“For the first time in my life, I’m not sure how to report the news. Was he saved?”
Teresa’s question throws me for a loop. In the sixty three hours I stood with him on that boat, we never talked about God. We talked about cars, work, family, women, and fishing but we never talked about God. I never even knew Ronnie before this contest. My momma always said that people come into our lives for a reason and we need to make sure we ask them if they know the Lord when they do. I may have won a boat but I completely failed Ronnie. I let that man die and never asked him about his relationship with Jesus.
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This was a strong entry. Nicely done.
God bless