Lottery

John Smith from Newcastle, United Kingdom was a poor metal dealer. He prospered before the Olympic Games in China because of the need for metal, but after it ended, his livelihood was hurt. All is days his only hope was the lottery. He used to talk all the time about the lottery, how good was the lottery and what would happen if he will win the lottery. His wife never understood his fashion for the lottery.

In her eyes the lottery is just a gamble, you don’t have any chance of winning the lottery since the odds for winning the lottery are very very small. For her paying for a lottery ticket is just a waste of money. But she knew the lottery was the only hope John ever had. Nothing in his life was as exciting as the lottery.

He considered the lottery as the source of all that is good. John bought a lottery ticket every week and each time he filled the same numbers: His birthday and the birthday of his beloved dog when he was a child, called Charlie. His lucky lottery numbers were: 3, 4, 17, 23, 37, 40.

The day the lottery called

One day the phone rang. John answered. It was a guy from the main office of the English lottery institution. He said John has won 6 million pounds. John couldn’t believe it. He thought it was a joke, but the lottery guy promised it wasn’t and invited John to get the check.

Everybody in John’s neighborhood heard about it, since the owner of the lottery booth where john filled the ticket, published it around. John was very excited and hurried to the lottery office. He was welcomed there and in his town as a real hero. People hugged him, threw confetti on him, called his name in the streets, said he was the knight of lottery, they made a royal feast for him and hailed him as the savior of Newcastle. His wife was radiating with joy.

Life after winning the lottery

John didn’t know exactly what to do with the money. Although all his days he dreamed about winning the lottery, he never imagined he would win such a huge amount of money. He felt paralyzed.

But the people around him weren’t. His wife said she is leaving him and demanded more than 3 million lottery pounds, his brother showed up suddenly and said he was in trouble since his addiction to illegal gambling and betting. His debts he said were more than 1 million lottery pounds. Also all the poor people in Newcastle and its surroundings approached John for mercy and lottery money. When he tried to refuse, they accuse him of being cheap and ungrateful.

Very soon John was left with out any lottery money, divorced and lonely. But he kept on his regular habit of filling a lottery ticket each week, only this time he does it privately.