Almost two months passed and it was soon the first week of October. I had some free time and decided to read the prequel, The Hobbit. This 280-some book took me roughly four days to complete. I was set to start The Lord of the Rings, however this was during Spirit Week at school and I had too many commitments to have time to read. The weekend passed and I pretty much forgot about reading The Lord of the Rings until there was a discusion about the hobbit. I mentioned that I read it in four days and that I could probably read The Lord of the Rings in a short amount of time as well. I jokingly said I could read the trilogy before Friday(It was Monday at the time). Jeff Pulker(also another tale) thought my comment as a challenge and bet me $1 that I couldn't read The Lord of the Rings by the time school started on Friday. If I won, I'd win $1, if I lost, he'd get a Rice Krispy Treat. Me, being a retard, accepted this bet and set forth on the difficult task of reading a 1008 page book in only 4 days.

I decided that I would have to read an average of 250 pages a day to finish before Friday. Unfortunetely I had a gigantic math test in Calculus and spent the first day studying for it, not reading a single word(Unfortunetely I did not do to well and it would have been in my best interest to have just read the 250 pages). After day one I was on the incredible page 1.

Tuesday I started reading immidietly after finishing my calulus test. There were numerous comments from people that were aware of my bet when they found out I had finished one page after one and a half days. I disregarded these comments and went about my reading. When I got home from school, I ended up playing Counter-Strike and checking my e-mail. by 6:00 I had roughly 50/1008 pages finished. During the next 5 hours I set to work and spent most of it reading, leaving my total for the first two days at 267/1008. Reading for hours straight is tough for everyone(except Nick Nickerson). I evaded boredom by reading in various places such as my bed, the recliner, at the computer(this idea was rather unsuccesful), and by drinking large amounts of Pepsi so as not to fall asleep.

Wednesday was pretty much the same as Tuesday, except I read during some of my classes, but definitely not during Science Fiction with Mr. Inloes, the best teacher ever. I had Teachers Aid with Crosby 7th hour and got a good 30 pages done then. At home, I read on, roughly on the same trend. I played Counter-Strike a bit and scoured the internet for pointless things. Afterwards I read on and on, bringing me to 506/1008 by the end of Wednesday. I still had half of The Lord of the Rings to read in one day which alsoincluded going to school.

Thursday sure was an interesting day. I planned on going to school early and read until 8:40, when school started. Unfortunetly, I found out the night before that I had to go in early to practice Marching for band. My was that depressing to here. During Physics I plodded on and read a good 20 pages during an awful movie about integrals(yes they actually make math movies). I read another 30 pages during Band and lunch, with a few more at the end of Calculus. When I got home at 3:15, there I was on page 557/1008. 451 pages in about 10 hours was going to be tough. I had no time to go on the internet or play computer games. In fact, the only breaks I took were for dinner and bathroom breaks. I did find another good place to read: my car. It was comfortable and away from noise, the sound of the rain was also rather comforting. And so I read, and I read, and I read. I was determined to win $1. At approximitely 2:30 A.M on Friday, I finished page 1008.

I only got two hours of sleep that night, but it was worth it, I had won a dollar. I came to school, nearly dying driving on the way over by almost nodding off. I saw Pulker around 9:00 A.M. and told him that he owed me $1. I think he was rather surprised and did not think I was actually serious in trying to read such a massive book in so little time. But I had indeed done so. Though thruthfully, I had read it in three days, for I read nothing on Monday, the first day. I learned much of this adventure such as being able to read a large amount of detailed content in a short amount of time(this should be usefull in college) and how to win an easy $1. So ends my tale of reading The Lord of the Rings in three days. Now I must begin the long journey of getting the dollar I have won...

~ Kevin Bondalapati