Pride Goeth Before a Fall...

Does pride really go before a fall? Many years ago my wife left town with her mother and the remaining minor siblings were parceled out to their adult sisters or in P’s case his brother in law. Now P was a 14 year old and full of himself. In fact I would say more hopeful for himself than prideful. Unlike his brother in law Grayquill who has struggled to be humble most of his adult life.
Now Grayquill at times thinks he has made much progress in his quest for humility. He would even say of himself that at times he gets extremely proud in how humble he has become. They say some of the most prideful people are those who will talk about themselves in the third person. Now I am pretty sure Grayquill would never admit to doing such a thing.
Grayquill upon having young P as a houseguest and listening to the boy’s big talk realized P was developing quite a fetish for gambling. If Grayquill had been a little wiser he may have thought the young boy was exaggerating his stories of easy money to impress his older brother in law. I mean teenagers don’t really exaggerate their stories do they?
So, as the stories rolled out of the adolescent and his winnings. The more mature humble Grayquill decided he would teach the boy the errors of his gambling ways. Now, P for all his big talk of massive winnings surprisingly only had a measly $1.25 in his pocket. Whereas Grayquill had a large change jar which P had seen and commented on more than once. Grayquill decided a good lesson would be to strip the boy of his little bankroll in a game of skill in pitching pennies, so that he could cure the boy of his gambling ways. The game began right there on the kitchen floor. Now being humble doesn’t always travel with wisdom. But, regardless Grayquill started out just as he intended winning little by little until poor P was down to his last nickel.
Have you ever been reeled in like an old fish? The ante had been upped to a nickel and one more good pitch was all Grayquill needed to bankrupt the proud whelp. Sadly, Grayquill lost and he lost again and again. P would let Grayquill run at the end of that hook just far enough to keep him pitching and hopeful he could recover his money and his pride. Before the evening ended and Grayquill came to his senses P’s pockets were bulging and Grayquill’s change jar near empty. P laughed and laughed and Grayquill decided it would just be better to go straight to bed and leave the arrogant hoodlum alone to count his winnings.
Now not all was lost, years have passed since that fateful night Grayquill has not attempted to straighten out any more wayward gamblers and P’s mother never once again left P alone with the brother in law. She has although on more than one occasion given a tongue lashing to Grayquill which he would say carried a pain he tries to not have repeated. Grayquill has learned it is best to not get trapped in a room alone with said mother in law unless there is a clear way of escape. D’OH