#WAIT NO I THINK MF DESERVES SPECIAL BIG SCREEN TIME

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NEW MYSTERY FILES EPISODE HELL YEAH !!!!!!!

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[RF] [MF] James 1:17

Jim could see right across the miserable town from his hotel room window. It was a cheerless night without a star in the sky and the streets were dark and damp and piled with dead leaves. The few people outside looked as worn as the rundown town centre, walking with bowed heads and jackets fastened to their chins against the hard breeze. The view depressed him, so he drew the curtains and went back to bed.

It was after midnight and he couldn’t sleep. The room was hot and stuffy and, despite his complaints, the air-conditioning still hadn’t been repaired. In the corridor, guests shouted and slammed doors as if in the midst of heated arguments. He looked grumpily around his room, at the scratched desk with cheap tea and coffee, the scuffed leather chair, heavily stained, the cheap abstract print showing three blobs of colour on a white background, and the small TV which was bulky and outdated. He pushed the power button on the remote but the screen stayed blank. At least the bed was comfortable, he thought.

Sighing, he leaned across the bed and took the Gideon’s Bible from the top drawer of the cabinet. Jim was a passive Christian, who only attended church on special occasions, but the religious ideal appealed to his spiritual sensibilities and he appreciated the stories and teachings. Sometimes, mostly from curiosity, he’d pick up the good book and search for meaning in his mundane life.

Jim sold building products and was entirely aware that building products were dull as dishwater -- not least because, tomorrow, he had to pitch a new masonry tie-in system to a selection of the industry’s biggest bores. He was a confident salesman; he simply dreaded wasting a day to something so tedious. After fifteen years with the company, he lacked any enthusiasm and was never more certain that he’d made a terribly bad career choice. He wanted out. If not for Kathy, the kids, the mortgage, bills, and all the other trappings of home, he’d have run away a long time ago.

Leafing through the thin bible pages, he landed on James 1:17 which had been bookmarked with a scratch card. He checked it, expecting to find it used, but it was unscratched and read:

Three Times Lucky!

Match three symbols to win.

Top prize of £5 million!

According to the date, the game was still valid.

What if it was a winning card? He was split whether to play. Someone had clearly forgotten it and Jim was reluctant to rob them of a potential prize. But equally some Good Samaritan might have left it as a gift to stir the faith of a potential follower. After all, what better way to make amends for a lifetime of unanswered prayers than a good and perfect gift in a cheap hotel-issue bible? If it was a winner, Jim thought, he might just start celebrating feast days and attending church every Sunday like a good Christian.

He decided to play.

Finding a coin his jacket pocket, he scratched the foil and jiggled the card to remove the residue. He stared at it in disbelief. The top and bottom rows were a tragedy without any matching symbols, but the middle line revealed three identical pound signs entwined with the number five. Eagerly, he checked the legend on the back and tried to keep calm. Impossible! No matter how many times he read it, the legend confirmed it was a jackpot winning card. Throwing the bible aside, he jumped from bed and paced the room excitedly.

What he could do with five million pounds! For the first time in years, he praised God and meant it. His mind raced. No more building products, early retirement, no mortgage. He was giddy with joy. They’d buy a house in the country, travel the world, and Kathy could have anything she wanted. Good God, she deserved it after her diagnosis last year.

Kathy! He must tell Kathy.

Fumbling in his holdall, he found his mobile and dialled her number with trembling hands. She didn’t pick-up. He called the landline and waited for it to click.

“Hello.”

“Kathy. It’s Jim.”

“Jim, why are you calling at 3am? You should be in bed. You’ve a big day tomorrow.” She sounded sleepy.

Hardly able to string two words together for excitement, he blurted: “A scratch card… Gideon’s Bible… Three times lucky… Five million… Life changing.”

“Jim. Slow down.”

He told her again, more clearly.

“Are you sure you’ve read it right?”

“Positive, Kathy. I’m telling you, this is it. I can feel it.”

Lifted by his enthusiasm she said, “Well what are you waiting for? Ring them.”

“Of course. Of course. I’ll do it now. Love you.”

“Love you too, darling.”

He ended the call and dialled the number given on the card. It rang for a long time before a woman with a smoker’s rasp answered.

“Hello, you’re through to the National Lottery. This is Mary speaking. How may I help?”

“Hi, I – I - I want to check my scratch card. I think I’ve won.”

“No problem, for what?”

“The jackpot.”

“Okay then. If you give me the six digit reference, I’ll check it for you.”

In his excitement, he searched both sides multiple times before seeing the code printed beneath the game grid.

“The NIV number, right?”

“That’s the one.”

“It’s J-A-M-1-1-7”

He heard her tapping the keyboard.

“Hmm,” she said. “That reference isn’t recognised. What’s the game called?”

“Three Times Lucky.”

There was muffled conversation and what sounded like laughter in the background before she replied.

“I’m sorry, but Three Times Lucky is on our list of prank cards.”

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