The Bet

SHORT STORY MONDAY

"Don't tell me the moon was shining; show me the glint of light on the broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

This week, instead of sharing more of my own fiction, I wanted to introduce you to one of my own favorite short story writers. One of the great writers of all time, especially noted for his plays, was the short story writer Anton Chekhov. In addition to being a master wordsmith, he was a keen observer of the daily drama of being human. Hence his stories overflow with insight, pathos and the comic.

Chekhov made his living as a doctor, so I can't figure out how he could have been so prolific, producing countless volumes of short stories, in addition to the several major plays, all which must have been enormously time consuming to rehearse and produce. He died at age 44.

I myself went through a "Chekhov period" in which I sought to put my hands on as many volumes of stories as I could find. I remember laughing out loud at some of these.

For the record, literary critics mark him as one of the most significant writers of the 19th century, and certainly on the "top ten" of any list of short story writers.

This story, The Bet, is one of my all time personal favorites. I have often said that if I ever assembled an anthology of short stories, this would be included in that book.

The Bet
It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening. There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations. Among other things they had talked of capital punishment. The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men, disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian States. In the opinion of some of them the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by imprisonment for life. "I don't agree with you," said their host the banker. "I have not tried either the death penalty or imprisonment for life, but if one may judge a priori, the death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?"

"Both are equally immoral," observed one of the guests, "for they both have the same object - to take away life. The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to."

Among the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was asked his opinion, he said: "The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is better than not at all."

A lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days, was suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his fist and shouted at the young man: "It's not true! I'll bet you two million you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years."

"If you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet, but I would stay not five but fifteen years."

"Fifteen? Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two million!"

"Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!" said the young man.

I urge you to finish the story here. It's a quick read with a wonderful payoff.