My Last Hundred Bucks: Football, Heat Stroke, and Crying in Public

by Spenser Davis

How’d you spend your last $100, Spenser?

I recently took a weekend trip with my wife to Fort Worth, Texas, my hometown and where my wife and I met in college. We went to see our friends and my family, as well as our alma mater’s homecoming football game.

$40: Cash I paid a friend for two tickets to the football game, where it was blazing hot and I didn’t wear sunscreen. Had a great time but remembered why I hated being outside in Texas most months of the year.

$0: Free alumni tailgate where I ate weird breakfast burritos and drank Coors Light that was technically free, but that I also probably paid for when I paid tuition three years ago.

$8: Two small Dippin’ Dots ice creams, because it was so crazy hot. Had serious thoughts about stealing the cart and lounging in it so I can cover myself in little frozen balls of ice cream.

$20: Tacos, queso, and beer at our favorite taco stand from college. Shiner beer can’t be beat.

$2: Bottle of water at the Dallas airport. I hadn’t been fully hydrated since leaving Seattle three days previous.

$5: Approximately 15 minutes worth of gambling at the slot machines during our layover in the dingy, moist Las Vegas airport. Tried to recreate the luck I had at a WinStar in Oklahoma in 2010. I didn’t.

$15: Dinner at the Pei Wei in the Vegas airport, even though I had the same thing the day before. They don’t have Pei Wei in Seattle, so I gotta get my fill of faux-Asian grub while I can. Also, it was the only place in the terminal that looked remotely appetizing.

$0: Gin and tonic on our third flight of the day, Vegas to Seattle, which was also delayed two hours. I needed said gin and tonic. I also watched the free Southwest TV on my wife’s iPad while she slept, and the episode of the Office where Michael Scott leaves came on. So there I was, nursing a watery airline cocktail and weeping openly as Steve Carell walked into the distance. I think that’s why they didn’t charge me for the drink.

Spenser Davis is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Rumpus, Structo Magazine, and World Soccer Talk. He can be found writing and tweeting about books, technology, and other unmarketable things in Seattle on Twitter. Photo: Joel Kramer

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