My million dollar deal

When George Lucas visited Steven Spielberg on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1976, he was so impressed by the movie's huge sets and Spielberg's vision that he bet Spielberg that the film would become a bigger hit than his own space movie that he was just completing at the time.

The bet was an exchange of 2.5 profit points on Close Encounters of the Third Kind for 2.5 profits points on Lucas's film -- titled Star Wars.

This actually turned out to be a good deal for both men. The money earned from Close Encounters of the Third Kind helped to keep Lucas’s studio afloat in a times of need, and the profits from Star Wars are still being realized by Spielberg today.

My friend and I have a similar bet. Several years ago we agreed to pay 10% to the other person if we ever made one million dollars on a single transaction. My friend is a landlord and property owner and I was school teacher with a dream of finishing his first novel.

It seemed like a great deal for me at the time.

When I told me wife about the bet a few years later as I began publishing novels, she was none too pleased.

Unfortunately, neither one of us has come close to having to fulfill our end of the bet, nor does it look like we will be doing so in the near future, but if I am ever required to hand over $100,000, it won’t hurt too much.

The other $900,000 will be comfort enough.

My wife’s 5 least favorite things

My wife is a tolerant, fair minded person who rarely finds a reason to become angry or displeased. She has no hate in her heart, and few things cause her to become angry. 

However, there are a few.

1. Aliens. In truth, she is frightened by aliens, but this fear leads to genuine anger when someone knowingly exposes her to the slightest hint of a alien life.

You cannot underestimate the level of his fear.

Early on in our relationship, I had her watch the movie Signs with me, thinking it would be the perfect alien movie for her. The alien only appears a couple times throughout the course of the film, and never in clear profile. How frightening could that be?

Apparently frighten enough to continue to haunt her almost ten years later.

She acknowledges that ET was an acceptable alien film, but barely. I still cannot get her to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind, no matter how much I assure her that the aliens are friendly.

She is so frightened of aliens that the recent news that life on Earth may have come from another planet scared her.

The fact that I shared this news with her was not well received.

2. Tickling. There is no better way to enrage my wife than to tickle her. Even though she is ticklish, tickling her doesn’t cause her to laugh. She somehow replaces the laugh with shouts, threats and punches.

3. Bumper stickers. Actually, all forms of stickers on cars, including the stickers that pictorially represent the members of a person’s family, annoy her, but bumper stickers are the worst.

4. People who cut lines. I have watched my mild manned, even keeled, supremely polite wife fire off on unwitting strangers who inadvertently cut the line at the pharmacy, the coffee shop or anywhere else. Motives and intentions be damned. If you cut the line, you will face my wife’s wrath.

5. Cilantro. There are many foods that my wife does not enjoy but only one that she truly despises. Cilantro is it.