“...and she is sitting right over there!”

The spotlight shone directly on Alice and those sitting around her. She and her friends had come to several tapings in the past hoping that at least one of them would get a chance to run the gauntlet that was American Roulette.

“Alice Fitzsimmons,” Laura announced, “please come down to the stage for you shot at five-hundred thousand dollars!”

Alice couldn’t believe her luck.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, pumping both her arms in the air.

Her friends gave her a congratulatory cheer as she made her way down the row to the main stairway. The spotlight half followed her and half lead her towards the stage. The crowd cheered her on from all sides--it was deafening. She climbed the steps and stood in front of Laura with the bright lights shining on her. Slowly, the elation of her luck fell away and the harsh reality of what lay ahead.

“What do you do, Alice?” Laura asked her.

“I teach 10th grade math,” she answered to modest applause.

“Your students must be proud of you. What do you plan to do with the winnings?”

“I will probably take a vacation and pay off my student loans.”

“Very nice. Would you please take your spot next to the wheel?”

Alice nodded. One of the props on the stage was a large, vertical wheel with many different colored wedges on it. Next to the wheel was a small ‘X’ made of tape on the floor for her to stand on.

“Very good,” Laura said to her before turning to address the cameras and the crowd. “If you’re new to the show, here’s what about to happen. There will be ten rounds. In each round, Alice, here, will spin the wheel. Wherever the wheel lands, that is the challenge that she will have to face. Each round she wins, she will gain more money. But if she fails, she will get a handicap that will make future challenges more difficult. Seven mistakes and she’ll put on a show for everyone! Are you ready, Alice?”

She nodded nervously and grabbed the wheel with both hands. Thoughts of glory and misery flooded her mind, but she pushed them away with a deep breath and a smile. She spun the wheel with all of her might, sending it clattering around its axis. Alice clapped with the crowd while the wheel turned.

After what seemed like forever, the wheel slowed to a stop on a gold-colored wedge. Laura walked over and pulled the wedge off of the wheel and turned it over.

“And the first challenge is,” Laura announced as she read the words on the wedge, “a quiz question. Alice, for five-thousand dollars, who played Alfred Pennyworth in the 2008 film The Dark Knight? You have thirty seconds to answer.”

“Um,” Alice began. She could see his face but his name eluded her.