Around the Bend: Promises, Promises

"Crazy !" said Lefty. (He had the two back wheels of my car off now)

"But those gods old Midas mucked around with were having him on," I said, "They didn't give him a fair deal!"

"They gave him exactly what he asked for," said Lefty.

"Yeah, but they weren't reasonable. They knew he'd die if even his food turned into gold. They were really killing him. That's murder by starvation!"

"I agree," said Mick, "They were killin' him."

"Midas should have thought of that before he asked," said Lefty.

If we'd stopped there, things would have been OK. But we didn't. We started talking about people keeping their word, and promises, and how we should do what we say. It turned into quite a heated argument.

"I reckon the gods were doing exactly what they said they'd do!" Lefty shouted, "Midas wanted everything he touched to turn to gold, so that's what he got! It was a fair deal!"

"But Midas didn't mean that!" shouted Mick, "He didn't think they'd take him so literally! It wasn't fair!"

"Yes it was!"

"Wasn't!"

"People have to keep their promises!" I shouted back.

"Gods specially ought to keep their promises!" added Mick, "Most of all the Greek gods because they're so important. They were supposed to be setting an example! What's the use of having gods if they're just as sneaky as humans?!"

"Look," I said, "If Midas had known what the gods would do with his request, he would have worded it differently!"

That made the guys stop and think for a minute.

Lefty finished pulling the last of the wheels off my car and started to dropped the pieces around him. "OK," he said, "What happens if you see an advertisement for something, and you go to the shop to buy it, but the price is three times higher? Or it's a different model? Or it's a different color? You'd think "This is a cheat" wouldn't you?"