“Please get the one million…… land on the one million………Stop!”, Cassey yelled.
In that moment, Jim looked into her eyes and was positive that he had done the right thing.
“One million dollars! I can’t believe it! I’ve won one-million dollars!”
Jim could believe it. His stomach turned. His face turned red. He had never done something like this before.
Ten years ago was the day that Jim and Cassey met. Jim was a game show host on the hit show “press your luck”. Cassey was a petite, blonde, from a small town in Arkansas. She didn’t know much about the world, but she was bright. And on that Tuesday in April in 1977, both of their lives would be changed forever.
“The Million! The Million!” Cassey said after the show in utter disbelief, “I just can’t believe that I did it! I must be very lucky. Has this ever happened before Mr. Lennens? Has anybody ever won the million?”
“No Miss. You’re the first. You really must be very special. And call me Jim, would you?”
“Alright Jim. Well thank you again. I’m really so thankful for the opportunity to even have been on this show at all”
“It’s really my pleasure. Well, why don’t you give me your number so I can call you when you can collect your winnings?”
“That would be wonderful. It’s 3664503. I’ll talk to you then”.
The two shared a long gaze before Cassey walked out of the revolving doors of the building.

One year later Cassey’s life was very different. She moved into an upscale apartment in Manhattan, bought 64 fancy dresses, and 35 pairs of shoes. She now had a butler who did everything for her. He bought her groceries and cooked her food. His name was Rick. Rick was a 33 year old man from New Jersey. He didn’t always want to be a butler, he had had bigger plans for himself. When he was in college he wanted to be a world traveler. Rick wanted to go places. He was a Biology major at Rutgers University and aspired to travel to third world countries on medical missions. He wanted to be a good-doer. Rick came from a loving family. He had six sisters and two brothers. The oldest of nine kids. But everything changed for Rick during his time in college when his littlest sister, Samantha, developed Cancer. Money was tight. It became nearly impossible to support all nine of the kids, and Rick was pulled from college that year. It was too impossible to pay for a private college education as well as all of Samantha’s treatments. Rick was fine with it at the time, he felt good that he could help his sister in that capacity. But without a college degree, Rick was stuck. If he couldn’t live a nice life, he at least wanted to live in the shadow of somebody who did. And that was when Rick met Cassey. No longer was she the Cassey from a small town in Arkansas. This was the Cassey from an upscale apartment in Manhattan with one million dollars to her name all thanks to a man named Jim who fell in love with her during a game show.

It was 1985 when Jim came knocking on Cassey’s door on a Thursday afternoon. Rick was washing dishes in the kitchen while Samantha was curling her hair in her bedroom.
Knock. Knock. Knock. The door sounded.
“Rick, will you get that?” Cassey didn’t like to open the door for strangers. Rick on the other hand was a friendly guy and approached the door with a smile.
“Hello, what can I do for you, sir?”
“Is this Cassandra Dunlop’s residence?”
Rick looked down at the man’s worn out leather shoes. The man on the other side of the doorway was dressed in a rugged flannel tucked into worn out jeans. Rick knew that he wasn’t supposed to give away Cassey’s address to just anybody. It was common knowledge that people would go after game show winners to get their money. After all, thousands of people on television had watched her win one million dollars. Rick didn’t think that this guy looked very trustworthy. He thought long and hard about what his response was going to be.
“And why would you like to know that? Sir?” Rick said.
“My name is Jim lennens”
“And my name is Rick. What difference does that make?”
“Well, I am-was- an extremely famous game show host of the hit show ‘press your luck’”.
Rick rolled his eyes. Jim was obnoxious.
Rick responded, “Yes, I’ve seen that show before. But you’re still not telling me why you’re here, Mr. Jim Lennens”.
“I was the host when Cassey was on the show back in ’77. She was so beautiful, and so sweet. Her laugh was contagious. Everybody in the audience was gunning for her. Her eyes sparkled as she stared into the Press Your Luck spinner. And I just couldn’t help myself. I was 27 at the time, very young to be in such a big job I know. When I saw Cassey, I wanted her to be mine. The first time I saw her was before the show when all of the contestants introduced themselves to me the night before. She was worth one million dollars. I decided that I was going to do everything in my power to get this girl. And let me tell you, I have a lot of power”.
Jim was communicating with Rick like he had prepared this speech for his entire life. Jim continued.
“So, naturally, I rigged the game. I talked to the janitors the night before and told them to make it so that on the fifth time that Cassey pressed the button, the wheel would land on the one million dollars no matter what”.
Rick’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what this man was telling him. Was it the truth? Rick wasn’t sure. But he did know that he wanted to know more. Cassey walked into the kitchen that was kitty corner from the front entryway. She caught a glimpse of Jim from behind Rick but didn’t recognize him. Curious about the conversation, she sat down on the couch towards the front of the apartment where she would be able to hear what they were talking about.
Rick acted flustered. He cared about Cassey and couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He said, “You literally tried to buy Cassey. It doesn’t work like that I’m sorry”.
Jim responded, “I tried, yes. But did I succeed? No. I asked for Cassey’s number after the show. Little did I know that she had given me the wrong number. She gave me a number that was disconnected and out of use. I risked my entire job for her and she couldn’t even give me her real number”.
“Yes, but Cassey had no idea, still has no idea, that you did that, Jim” Rick said.
And then Jim finally said what he came to say.
“One year ago the janitor that I hired to help me rig the game ratted me out and I’ve lost my job. I was sued by the broadcasting company and I’ve since lost all of my money. I have nothing. Cassey has everything and it’s not fair. I’ve come to ask for my million dollars back”.
Cassey couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Her face turned red, her body started to shake. For the first time in her life, Cassey felt like she was living a lie. She didn’t know what to do. She slowly crept towards the doorway to confront Jim and see what he had to say to her. But before she could do that, Rick grabbed her by the shoulders, shut the door on Jim, and pulled Cassey into another room.
Rick said, “Cassey don’t for a second even consider giving him anything. It was his fault that he cheated the game for you, you owe him absolutely nothing”.
But to Rick’s surprise, Cassey had a different opinion.
“Can’t you see, Rick? I’m absolutely miserable living this way. All day long and all night long I just sit in this apartment, without a care in the world. I have nothing to life for. Nothing to strive for. I have everything that I could ever want. But I’m lonely living this way. I don’t have any real friends. All of my friends just like me because of my money. This is a great opportunity, Rick! I can give him all of my money back and start over with my life”, Cassey said.
“Cassey I’m your real friend”, Rick whispered.
“Rick you’re my butler. I pay you to be my friend. If I was not giving you money you would not be here right now. You would be somebody else’s ‘friend’, and you’d be holding doors open for them, not me”, Cassey said.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the apartment door, Jim waited impatiently and started to knock once again.
Knock. Knock. Knock. The door sounded.
Cassey went on, “Well you better get that. I guess he needs an answer”.
To this Rick responded, “Okay I will. But first, you have to promise me one thing”
“And what is that?” Cassey said.
“That you will not give a penny to this guy, no matter how badly you want to. You may be miserable now, but you have no idea anymore how much harder it is to live life without money. I couldn’t finish my college degree because of it. You’re gonna regret what you’re about to do Cassey, I know you too well”.
And these were the last words that Rick said to her before she walked over to the door to open it for herself.
“Hello there”, she said.
“Give me my million back this instant”, Jim demanded. Cassey was taken aback by his harsh tone. Maybe she shouldn’t give him his million afterall.
Cassey responded, “and why should I do that?” she bit her lip, she had never spoken back to somebody like that before.
“I’ve lost my job because of you. It’s all your fault. If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have all of this money in the first place. Look how greedy you are. You nasty woman. You’re nothing but a materialistic slum who doesn’t care about anybody else but herself”.
Rick overheard what he was telling her. He couldn’t contain himself anymore. He popped his knuckles, took a deep breath, and pounced on Jim.
“Don’t you talk to my woman like that. She is not a materialistic slum. She is smart, caring, beautiful, and just nothing can compare to her”. Rick let out a punch and knocked Jim out to the floor. Jim was unconscious. Cassey shrieked in utter shock before looking deep into Rick’s eyes and realizing she had found the one.
“Will you marry me, Cassey?” Jim asked.
And that is the story of how Cassey and Jim fell in love. Cassey ended up donating her excess wealth to charitable causes, and they lived a comfortable life together in the apartment in New York City. The end.