Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #14 May 2015 | Page 11

strike you. You’re winning if you get out more than
you pay in.

went into boxes or onto backseats or were given away
to the families in the neighbourhood, and she was established in her new little apartment three days later.

Either way, you’re gambling your vision of the future
against the one the insurance company bets you’ll see.
You want to live a long life full of adventure and the
occasional disaster. Your insurer wants you to live a
happy, quiet life until just before your life policy matures, with no claims against the policies for your car,
your home, your health… you get the idea.
Life is unpredictable, no matter how hard the actualaries crunch their numbers, some thirty-year-olds are
wretched drivers, and some people get the big payoff
from their simple term policy. Hurricanes and wildfires and a hundred other statistical anomalies keep the
game honest.
That’s where specialists like me come into the picture.
I’m an actuary. I make futures happen the way my
clients want them. Most days, it’s like being a cross
between guardian angel and angel of death. Hey, I said
it was a game of numbers. I didn’t say anyone played
fair. Insurance companies like to win, and they have
deep pockets.
Every so often, though, we go freelance. If your case
is interesting enough, one of us might take notice, and
when reality starts working for you, life gets a little
more interesting for everyone.
Take the case of Granny Fannie. Don’t blame me
for the name. Her great-grandchildren gave it to her,
around the same time her kids and grandkids bought
her a nice littl