Live by the Phone

It's Halloween and Frank Scarpelli is a down-on-his-luck gambler. His wife has threatened to leave him if he places one more bet and the mafia will exact their revenge if he doesn't pay his debts. He's out of money and out of time. Everything hinges on the Monday Night Football game. Frank has always wished he could know the outcome before the game, but when an unusual trick-or-treater offers to make his wildest dreams come true, will it be all he hoped for?This book is a product of something that happened some 30 years ago when an old friend called me, knowing my desire to be a writer, and asked me to make up a scary Halloween story for her son for school homework. I did a very short version of this short story for him, and it got him an A+. During a move from one apartment to another, I ran across this version. Since I was unemployed (long story), I decided to begin "The Book" that everyone has always wanted to write. It has remained a work in progress from that time until now. "Live by the Phone: A Gambler's Best Wish and Worst Nightmare" is what I refer to as "Faction", a cross between Fact and Fiction. A lot of what you will read contains many facts about the area in which I live, and, of course, many changed names to protect "The Guilty"! It is semi-autobiographical and a story which I always wished could be true. As you will discover, the story could have had many other endings, and, if and when I write again, look for that to be the case.