Our unassuming, quaint little town hides many dark secrets. The people around here have so many skeletons in their closets, they have to keep all of their clothes piled in heaps around the house. I happen to know a lot of their worst sins that they’re desperate to hide. Today, I’m finally laying the truth bare, dragging one of these secrets out into the light. Are you ready for it? Probably not, but here it goes anyway…

Emerson Valley has a serious gambling problem. “So what?” you might say. “Why should we care?” you ask. “How’d you get inside my house? Get out before I call the cops!” you might exclaim. It’s precisely that kind of unneighborly attitude that’s tearing our town apart. Just because you’re not directly affected by this epidemic doesn’t mean you should turn a blind eye to what’s happening around you.

I’ve seen how bad it can be firsthand. The way this addiction sinks its talons into good people and pulls them down into the muck with the rest of us. It can tear families apart. Families like the Williamsons. A nice, seemingly perfect family; the kind they put on calendars and Christmas cards. But a severe gambling addiction led to this picture of paradise being violently torn in half.

There I was at the EVHS homecoming game. I was standing off to the side down by the bleachers when something suspicious caught my eye. Phil Williamson had crept over to the spot where local bookie Aaron Horner was plying his trade. I saw Phil slip him a ten-spot and whisper, “Put this on the Martians to win.”

No sooner had Phil slunk away when Elaine Williamson shambled over to Aaron and tapped him on the shoulder. “Bradley’s allergies are acting up, and he didn’t get much sleep last night.” I watched as she opened her purse and plucked out a crisp, new ten-dollar bill. “Put this on Carson Hills. I think they’re gonna win.”

As the clock ran out on the big game, the scoreboard read: HOME – 14; VISITORS – 17. Carson Hills High School was victorious. When Elaine went to collect her winnings from Mr. Horner, Phil happened to be walking by. He spotted her and stormed over. The rage in his eyes burned hotter than the molten center of the Earth.

“What in the world is going on here?” he demanded to know.

Elaine froze up in fear. Mr. Horner looked between the spouses and realized what had happened.

“She bet ten dollars on the away team,” Aaron explained. “She won twenty bucks. Looks like y’all broke even.”

Elaine could do nothing but stare back at her husband as the fury of the gods thundered within him. “I can’t believe you did that!” he roared. “I bet ten on us to win, you bet ten on us to lose…” Suddenly, laughter erupted from his belly. It was the maniacal cackle of a lunatic serial killer about to claim his next victim. “You’re always fixing my dumb mistakes, huh?” he said threateningly.

“Sure seems that way,” she replied, and gave him a smile.

What else could she do? She had to play along and buy herself some time to escape her insane husband. Their son Bradley noticed the commotion and ran to his mother’s side, fully prepared to do battle with his father in defense of poor Elaine.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, placing himself in between his parents.

Suddenly, the Williamsons’ daughter Abby came jogging over from the rest of the cheerleading squad. She carefully maneuvered herself through the chain link fence and took her position beside her father.

“Can anyone explain what y’all are doing?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Phil told her, the sarcasm dripping from his lips. “Me and your mom just bet on opposite teams to win, so we’re walking away with the same amount we came with.”

“Wait…” Bradley said, looking at his mother with uncertainty in his voice. “Who’d you bet on?”

“On Carson Hills,” Elaine confessed. I’ll never forget the look of betrayal in that poor boys eyes. He tried to be brave and laugh it off. He even said, “I guess that makes sense. You knew I wasn’t feeling good today.”

“Dad must’ve thought the team could pull it off without you,” Abby said, placing herself firmly on her father’s side.

“He really shouldn’t just let Mom do the betting,” Bradley replied. Even in the face of such betrayal, the heroic boy still sought to protect his mother. “She’s always right about these sorts of things.”

And there it was. A family divided in half and pitted against each other because of the scourge of gambling addiction. Look at what Bradley said: “She’s always right about these sorts of things.” This clearly wasn’t the first time Elaine had gambled. Phil was obviously an addict as well, but had the misfortune of always picking losers. If only we could stamp out this blight on society, families like the Williamsons wouldn’t be shattered forever.

I put it to you, dear reader…noble resident of Emerson Valley…when will we say “enough is enough?” How many more people must suffer before we stop focusing on our own petty problems and start dealing with the true scourge of our town? I hope the people will be roused to action soon, because I don’t know how much longer we can survive if we don’t start working together to make our lovely little hamlet the type of place where you would be proud to raise your families.

-Ashton Rook, Lifestyle, Emerson Valley Gazette