The hot liquid burned going down, but warmed Vivi’s stomach quickly. Urgency buzzed in her thoughts as she gulped the hot drink, sputtering and gasping for her breath. It dribbled off her chin… the droplets falling on her pale yellow blouse.
Numbers will change my life, she thought, looking at the clock as it struck eight. “I’ve always know that lightening would strike and now it’s for real!” She glanced over the row of digits printed on the ticket comparing them to what she wrote down last night. Yes, they still matched.
Soon… soon I will be rich, she told herself. “All I need to do is take it to the right place and collect my winnings.” Yes, sir, the bank could do without her today.
Vivi grabbed her purse and after tucking the ticket safe inside, she left her apartment with a smile on her face. It was going to be a great day!
She backed out of her parking space and headed for the freeway. On the ramp, Vivi couldn’t keep from taking the ticket out of her purse just to look at it one more time. She smiled, happy at just thinking about how her life would change because of the ticket.
It was the last thing she saw when the semi truck hit her on the driver’s side, sending Vivi flying through the air and the lottery ticket catching a ride on the breeze. It fluttered along for a mile before falling along the rocky edge of the busy road.
Fred was used to walking. His life was built on miles of footsteps. He often found useful items along the byways. “No one would believe it,” Fred told himself, as he picked up a worn-out sneaker. Only this time a lottery ticket was wedged inside the lost left shoe.
Wow, this could be big, he thought. Maybe it’s a winner! I could get my old life back --- a new house, a new pick-up truck, a new dog --- his list grew longer with each footfall.
Visions of the high life danced through Fred’s head. He was smiling again. It had been six years since Fred had genuinely smiled without being prompted by someone giving him a handout.
Fred heard himself laugh out loud just as the SUV veered out of the lane, hitting him and sending Fred sailing into the roadside grass and dried brush. As he lay there looking up at the blue sky dotted with clouds, hearing sirens in the distance, his hand released the winning lottery ticket!
It was sucked into the huge car’s back draft and shot across the divided highway where it lodged itself into the grill of a rattle-trap van moving down the road.
“Buckle” was behind the wheel, whistling a song from an old western movie he had seen years ago. His shiny belt buckle sent reflected sparkles around the inside of the dirty interior. All the windows were down, two permanently stuck that way.
His dog Jake lay in the passenger seat, hardly paying attention to anything like he used to anymore. When Buckle patted his old companion’s head, Jake opened his eyes halfway, enough for a peek.
Most people noticed Buckle’s belt buckle before they even looked at his face. He had won it back competing in the rodeo. Buckle was young then, now he only talked a good game and had lots of stories. Pain was a familiar friend and many would say he was living the hard life again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Buckle saw something fly in one of his back windows. Maybe it was some trash that lined this road, he considered, hoping it wasn’t a bee. Fred was deathly allergic to bees since 1983. Farming was tough and dangerous for him, but he survived.
His eyes darted back and forth with each flash of light from his buckle. Adjusting the rear view mirror, Fred tried to look into the back seat… nothing out of the ordinary, he thought. He only saw the neatly placed baskets of peaches and vegetables he was taking to sell at the produce market. Jake stayed uninterested.
Almost missing the exit, Fred slammed on the brakes and turned the wheels to the right, just making the ramp at exit four in front of an ambulance heading in the other direction. This was always a busy day. Maybe I’ll make enough money to buy some feed for the goats, he thought.
His favorite spot was still vacant so Fred backed his old van into it, opened all the doors and set out his display of fresh produce. People were already milling about checking out the morning’s healthy choices.
A young mother with three little ones in hand was looking at his peaches by the time he settled down in his faded plastic chair. “My peaches are really sweet this year!” Fred told her as she turned them over and over in her hand. She mumbled something about not having enough money for the full basket and asked if she could buy only three of them.
Fred thought for a moment… the woman was thin, so were the kids… “Aw, you can have them, no charge!” He placed them into her hands while she tried to resist, but Fred was insistent, so she took them and hurried off before he could change his mind.
Oh, well, the goats can continue eating scraps, Fred decided, smiling as he settled into his cracking chair. Sleepy Jake was all ready settled down by the chair. It was going to be a good day at the market, Fred assured himself while he watched the people wander around between the tables and trucks.
The young mother Sally took the basket of peaches and headed home without noticing the lottery ticket nestled under a beautiful unblemished peach. Her children held hands staying slightly behind her walking at their own dawdling pace.
Sally placed the heavy basket on the kitchen table. She rubbed her tired arms. The youngest had to be carried the last twenty yards and Sally was in no shape for that anymore. Things had been hard since Bill left them, but she was determined to keep her family together.
While Sally put the two youngest down for a nap, Charlie looked into the basket. He picked out the prettiest of he peaches to take to his friend Penny who lived next door. She was in Charlie’s first grade class and they sat next to each other since they first met.
Penny was sitting on her front steps reading a library book. Her dark braided hair was shining red in the sunlight… that made Charlie smile. Looking up, Penny returned Charlie’s smile as he held out the peach to her. Penny put the opened book down and took the tasty offering!
“Here, I found you a bookmarker too” Charlie told her, handing her the lottery ticket. Penny took it and marked her place in the book, saving it for later. “It has numbers too,” Charlie told her, “just like we learned at school.”
That night when Penny finished the book, she tucked it into her backpack readying for school the next morning. She forgot all about the bookmarker nestled between pages 35 and 36.
Penny’s mother Daisy read the newspaper each evening after the house had settled into that peaceful time made for thinking and relaxing. She read every single page from front to back while her husband Al slept. Al was a hard worker, but they couldn’t seem to get ahead. Each week, Daisy bought a secret lottery ticket in hopes of winning. Again last night’s numbers didn’t match anything on her ticket.
Daisy sighed out loud as she folded the tiny local newspaper up and took it to the trash bin. She noticed Penny’s backpack by the door waiting for school and another day of possibilities.
At school, Penny returned her library book first thing and then went to class. Charlie was already there when she took her seat. Neither of them gave the lottery ticket another thought as they smiled as their favorite teacher said good morning.
Mrs. Lee had been the librarian since the school opened. She loved books. Even though many of the books were for very young children, Mrs. Lee had read every book on the shelves and found them delightful. She erased all the pencils marks, unturned the folded down corners, and checked for forgotten items hiding in the books.
This morning, Mrs. Lee was in a hurry. She decided to stack the pile of returned books to the side for later, but she accidently knocked over the tower of books sending them flying across the carpet! In picking the books up, Mrs. Lee found someone’s homework, silly notes passed in class, and one lottery ticket!
It was hard to tell from which book it had fallen, so Mrs. Lee sat down at her desk and held the ticket up to the sunlight. It was a new ticket. Unsure of what to do, she slid it into her jacket pocket to deal with later. The first class scheduled for library time was filing through the door. Smiling, Mrs. Lee jumped up to greet the children.
It was a dilemma, Mrs. Lee thought as she took the ticket out later that night. To whom did the ticket belong? Anyone could claim it now. After checking the numbers, Mrs. Lee knew it was indeed the winning lottery ticket. Why shouldn’t she keep it and claim the money?
After a fitful night of light sleep, Mrs. Lee decided to claim the winnings and give half to the school. She knew her school really could use the extra funds for many improvements. That seemed fair.
While driving to school the next morning, Mrs. Lee’s car ran out of gas! After ten minutes of sitting wondering what to do, she decided to walk the rest of the way to school. Her work satchel was heavier than she thought as she slung it over her shoulder. Mrs. Lee would deal with the car later, but today she didn’t want to be late for school.
A car slowed next to her as she walked along the edge of the road. Rolling down the right window, a teenager asked if he could take her anywhere. Mrs. Lee hesitated, but with the school in sight, she said yes and opened the car door.
Sliding her satchel in first, Mrs. Lee felt safer with a barrier between her and this stranger. He never said anything, but slowed as they reached the school, then stopped. Mrs. Lee opened the door and started to grab her satchel, when the guy stepped on the gas and sped off down the road.
As Mrs. Lee tumbled to the gravel, she noticed some of the tag numbers were eight and nine. She picked herself up and dusted off her skirt. How could she have been so stupid to accept a ride from a stranger? She would ask herself that same question many times that day.
Tiger roared off from the school, adjusting his rear view mirror, he chuckled at how easy that was! She looked like she had lots of nice stuff in this bag she didn’t want to lose sight of, but she didn’t want to walk either. It was easy pickings! He’d be long gone by the time that old lady teacher got to a phone to call the police.
The back roads were where Tiger lived most of his life lately. He headed to his favorite shaded spot by a dead end creek and stopped. Taking the bag out, he dumped it on the ground.
A journal, books, papers, photos, and all kinds of worthless junk fell out in front of Tiger. “Oh, geez,” he said out loud! He spun around holding his head. What else would a teacher carry around, he asked himself? None of this stuff is valuable!
Spying her wallet, Tiger picked it up and quickly looked into the money area. One five and five ones were all he found until he saw the lottery ticket. Now, we’re getting somewhere, Tiger thought, as he took the money and the ticket. Stuffing them into his wallet in his back jeans pocket, Tiger returned to his car and after sitting for awhile, slowly drove off.
My sister’s not going to be happy about this; Tiger felt a slight pang of guilt. She’s been trying to keep me out of trouble since our folks died, but I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity!
Maybe this really is my lucky day, Tiger thought while he maneuvered back to the main highway. He was feeling too good to go to school, so off he flew in the opposite direction, avoiding any major business areas and keeping an eye out for flashing blue lights.
Vivi woke up with a deputy sheriff staring down at her in the hospital bed. She could hardly move, but when she tried, pain shot through her limbs. The last thing she remembered was driving her car and something else… what was it? She tried to remember what it was because it felt really important. Her mind was blank.
“Glad to see you’re awake” the uniformed man said. “It’s been almost two days since the accident. Do you remember anything?” Vivi thought about what he asked, trying to respond, she barely shook her head no. Her head and neck hurt.
“Sorry to have to tell you that your brother has been in trouble again. He robbed the librarian at the school.” His voice was monotone and soothing, Vivi thought as she fought drifting off to sleep. What was he saying?
“Your brother asked me to bring you his personal items, especially his wallet he had on him. He’s locked up downtown.” Vivi silently watched as the officer showed her the wallet, pulling out the winning lottery ticket. “We kept the money for evidence” then said he would come back later when she could talk.
“Don’t you worry, little lady, everything will be alright,” the policeman said as he left the room. “You’re pretty lucky to have survived!”
Vivi smiled as she drifted off to sleep thinking she was indeed lucky.
And so the story ends…
