"Bill The Pothole" By Don Miles

     As the Mayor was flipping through the $100 bills in the envelope, Bob, the owner of Bob's Repair Shop asked," Are you sure those potholes won't get fixed?" "Don't worry," said the Mayor of Roochester Hills," they'll only get bigger." "Just make sure that huge one just down the street from my shop between here and the high school isn't fixed. I call it Bill. Bill wreaked so many tires and rims it made me $30,000 last year! You know why I call it Bill? If you drive through it, you'll get a bill..from me! Ha, ha, ha." "That's a coincidence. When my constituents complain to me about car damage from potholes I tell them the same thing, don't bill me, bill the pothole!" They both laughed an evil laugh. "Well, I have to go and pick up my daughter. She gets her permit to drive today," said the Mayor. Bob got out of the Mayor's car, looked back and said, "Tell her to watch those potholes...ha, ha, ha..." The Mayor was an honest man once but he had been compromised by a devious repair shop owner with lots of cash who convinced him that all he had to do was.....nothing. Don't fix the roads. Easy. What can the people do he asked? But the Mayor's conscience was nagging at him. He had a bad feeling and wanted out but he had become addicted to the vacations and private country clubs that cost big bucks so he felt he couldn't stop.
      The Mayor went to pick up his daughter at school where she was finishing up drivers education. Today was the day she got her permit to drive. "Can I drive daddy? Please, please, please," his daughter asked. "O.K, take the wheel honey." Just as they were pulling out, Bob from Bob's Repair Shop was leaving his shop, which was just down the street from the Mayor's daughters school. Bob was traveling on the same road coming toward them in the opposite direction. "I am so happy driving daddy, but these roads need work.....," said the Mayors daughter just as she hit Bill the pothole. Being a new driver with little experience, Bill the pothole caught her by surprise and she lost control of the large SUV. Bill the pothole sent her across the median and in to oncoming traffic. Coming the other way was Bob from Bob's Repair Shop, who had no time to react. The cars collided head on. The Mayor's daughter was miraculously thrown clear and was uninjured but the two men were trapped in the mangled cars as they erupted in flames. The two men, The Mayor and Bob, and the dirty money, all burned in plain view of Bill the pothole.