{"id":4672,"date":"2025-05-16T14:53:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T18:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4672"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:53:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T18:53:45","slug":"the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4672","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The writing prompt was to pick something from the list of words\/phrases that the happiest people have in common, and then write about one of the happiest times in your or a character’s life.\u00a0 I chose the word – Challenge. We had 20 minutes to write.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Challenge<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I love a good challenge, whether a word puzzle, a hidden treasure, or a daring adventure. I love them all. That is why I decided to partake in the challenge that was presented online by Diputs, Inc. It only cost me $100.00, and I had to act right away.\u00a0 Why not? It was on the internet, and it must have been vetted before it was posted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal. After using my credit card to give them the money, I was to follow a set of screens that would lead me to a winning mega lottery ticket. It specifically said that the odds of winning were .0001000000%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, I thought, a million percent, that\u2019s more than 100%. Who could ask for better odds?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My first step in this challenge was to log onto another site and sign in. If I didn\u2019t have an account, all I had to do was create one, which I did. They asked for my name, address, birthdate, and the first nine digits of my Social Security number. They didn\u2019t even want me to have a password. How awesomely secure is that? I hate trying to remember passwords.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was hesitant about entering my Social Security number, but as I started typing it in, asterisks appeared for every number I typed, so I knew it was safe and no one could read it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, I was sent to another site where I was given riddles to answer, like, “What bank do you use?” “What are your parents\u2019 names?” and stuff like that. That was not much of a challenge. I knew all of those answers. I just wondered how they would know if my answers were correct.<\/span><\/p>\n

The final thing I had to sign digitally was a non-disclosure statement. I guess they didn\u2019t want anyone to know about this great challenge, like some unscrupulous individuals who might use the game to trick people into giving them money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now it was time for the challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had to answer a math question. It was a simple one.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much is 5 + 5 x 0 = ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Could it get any easier than that? The answer is *<\/strong>Zero. Everyone knows that any number times zero is zero.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for them to respond that I answered correctly and that I had won. They would be sending me the check.<\/span><\/p>\n

I gave them my phone number and address and am still waiting for all that money. I\u2019m a little surprised it is taking so long\u2014it has been over three weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The funny thing is that I just got my bank statement, and for some reason, the statement says that my account is closed and was zeroed out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019ll go to the bank tomorrow and straighten this out. I know for a fact I had at least $300,000 in savings alone. Clearly, there has been a clerical error.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

————<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Author\u2019s note – 5 + 5 X 0 = 5 (look it up)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The writing prompt was to pick something from the list of words\/phrases that the happiest people have in common, and then write about one of the happiest times in your or a character’s life.\u00a0 I chose the word – Challenge. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-4672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-stories","category-story-writing","tag-writing-prompt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4673,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4672\/revisions\/4673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}