[ WP ] A happy story about the end of the world

Judgement day came unannounced. The world was not prepared for what was to come, for the end of all that we held dear; family, friends, civilisation itself, everything ceased to be, as surely as the inexorable march of entropy. 
 
 To many, this would be a most unfortunate event; to me, it could n't have come at a better time. After years of dodgy schemes, underground poker games, and borrowing from the wrong people, I owed in excess of the GDP of a small Eastern European country to some individuals you would n't want to introduce to your catholic parents. Nevertheless, through the wonderful art of reversed psychology, I had actually managed to convince the loan shark consortium to which I owed so much money to give me one last chance. I gathered all the that I had saved, robbed and otherwise put my hands on and headed to the nearest casino, intent on betting it all on the tinted red, the gamble of all gambles, the roulette spin of the century. As luck would have it, I just so happened to cross a `` Judgement Day is coming!'' lunatic hobo on the way, and, in what can only be described as a drug-fear-and-adrenaline-fuelled stupor, I change coursed and aimed my sinking ship towards a bookies. Inspired by the chance encounter, I bet everything but my clothes on the one-in-infinity odd that the world would end within a week. 
 
 When the loansharks heard the details of the absurdity which was my bet, their immediate instinct was, rather reasonably, to hang, draw, and quarter me. They had, however, a reputation to preserve, and even in the face of the most improbable of events, they entertained the one-week period to let the world end before showing me why their consortium was the greatest source of income for six different mortuaries in the district. 
 
 As the cosmic joke which life is would have it, the only lucky moment in my life would coincide with the Apocalypse, saving me from an excruciating death, obliterating my debt and my would-be killers, and bankrupting both the bookies and their insurance agency, technically making me the richest person in history. To be sure, I was obliterated with them all, as was all the money, but the hilarity of the situation, for one, did not go unnoticed, and I amusingly watched the end of it all with a grin. 
 
 
 That's the way the world ends, 
 not with a bang but with a snicker.
