In 1996, Wheel of Fortune retired its host of more than a decade, ‘Baby’ John Burgess (whose stout moustache reminded Lucky of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence). Baby Burgess moved to a rival network, where he devised his own show, Burgo’s Catch Phrase, leaving the wheel to a former talkback radio host, Marjorie Sorenson, whose TV experience included daytime panel shows and an award-winning 60 Minutes segment in which she took a reporting team along for an endoscopic screening that yielded negative results but which had the stated purpose of raising bowel cancer awareness. No colleague or acquaintance referred to her as ‘Marg’ or ‘Margie’ or ‘Maggie’ more than once. Worst of all: ‘Mags’. In newsrooms she was known also for her brief letters to the editor in which she lightly chastised columnists and TV reviewers who’d referred to her as a ‘former shock jock’. The transition from Baby Burgess to Marjorie was notable, also, for a change in format: Marjorie had demanded that the puzzle board hostess be retired from the show, because she deemed the role to be sexist ornamentation. Under Marjorie, the relation of host to contestant was that of celebrity to non-celebrity, parent to child.

Dan came to the door: ‘Everyone, time to rock-and-roll.’

On the way to the studio, the three contestants walked in a hurried cluster and few words, nothing expressive, rose in that bubble. Lucky and Stan and the third contestant found their positions behind the wheel. The audience applauded and the plus ones were ushered to their seats in the front row. The room was bright and cold. The red light went on and Marjorie moved in silks and gabardines to the podium, her hair resting on shoulder pads that looked like flattened petals.

‘Back once again, it’s my favourite time of the day!’ said Marjorie. She briefly introduced each of the players, mentioning their names, home state and city, wanting extra information only from Stan, whom she described as the whiz kid from Wangaratta. Stan said that with his winnings he’d like to buy a boat and sail across the Pacific Ocean with his dad.

‘Ideally,’ said Stan, although Marjorie didn’t ask him to elaborate, ‘I’d like an ex-coastguard boat, or border control. I want those big lights that sweep around.’

‘Young man,’ said Marjorie, ‘let’s see if you can make your dream come true.’