Vera walked into the bathroom and quickly changed into the T-shirt John bought her. She looked for a robe but couldn’t find one. Vera walked out of the bathroom, crossed the bedroom, and took the room key from the top of the bureau. She opened her hotel room door and looked down the hall first to the left, then to the right. The hallway was empty. Quickly Vera scampered to John’s room in her extra-long T-shirt with I ? NEW YORK printed on the front. She knocked on John’s room door. He opened it and smiled. He put out his hand and guided Vera into his suite. Young, handsome John J. Sughrue closed the suite’s door and took elderly, plain Vera Bundle into his arms. They kissed each other softly and gently. Then John walked Vera into his bedroom, his arm around her shoulders, hugging her to him as they walked to the bed.

Vera had put herself to sleep every single night since she returned home from that trip to New York dreaming the same identical dream. Just as she was doing now. Dreaming that dream was always the happiest moment of her day. Of her life.

Even if it was just a drea—

Author’s Note

The laws of the land in the year 2012 allowed greedy networks to produce and broadcast highly rated game shows like The Big Question. The Federal Communications Commission did nothing to stop the networks from airing horrific television shows for fear of lawsuits accusing the commission of preventing freedom of speech. But the public did do something about The Big Question. The millions of citizens of the United States, the final arbiters of taste and the true deciders of what should or shouldn’t be broadcast—and who generally exhibit extremely poor taste in these matters—rose up on this occasion and picketed the network’s outlets across America, protesting the barbaric program. The Big Question was canceled after just three broadcasts.

Acknowledgments

I thank my agent, Jennifer Lyons, for engineering my move to the “bigs”; David Rosenthal of Simon & Schuster for giving my book a chance; and my editor, Sarah Hochman, for making my book so much better. I also thank Charles Reilly Jr. and Loretta Strickland for their valuable help. And last but far from least, I thank my wife, Mary, for always being beside me.

About the Author

Chuck Barris is a former television show creator and producer whose credits include The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show, and Treasure Hunt. He is the author of several books, including Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (adapted into a major motion picture) and You and Me, Babe: A Novel. Barris and his wife, Mary, live in Manhattan.