I won

At 6am this morning I went to the Marts of Wal to buy some lemon curd. They didn’t have it. So I had to take the slightly longer drive to the Jewel to get it.  I also bought a case of Dr. Pepper. My husband and I are hosting a holiday cocktail party tomorrow night.  The lemon curd is for the blackberry/limoncello trifles that look satisfyingly fancy.  The Dr. Pepper is for the guests who don’t drink alcohol but still want something fun.

When I was young and poor I started buying lottery tickets whenever the pot got large enough to make the news. I didn’t buy tickets because I thought I would win I bought the tickets so I could dream about winning until the drawing. This morning, since I was already out, I went into a gas station near the Jewel to buy a ticket because the news this morning said the pot is something like 1.2 Billion. The mind boggles. Behind the counter was a young man resting his turbaned head on his arms. I’m sure working overnights at a gas station can take it out of you.

“Good morning,” I said as I entered, a little too enthusiastically.

“Good morning!” He returned brightly, standing.

I held up a twenty-dollar bill and said, “May I buy twenty dollars worth of Powerball tickets?”

“Sure!” He replied, moving to the ticketing machine, “What are you going to do with all of that money?”

I went blank.

“Uh.”

As he handed me the tickets he raised his eyebrows waiting for my answer.

“I don’t know. My life is already really good.”

He smiled with his entire face and said, “Then you’ve already won.”