The Lottery Ticket

Mary Edwards was a poor Spinster. She worked as a waitress in a cheap hotel called Anthony’s Bistro. She was over-worked and underpaid. She was lean, pale and tired.

The owner of the Bistro was Anthony Hawkins. He was a scrooge. He never took care of his waiters. He complained about everything. He hired people from the surrounding poor localities. He knew that jobs were hard to come by for the poor and uneducated. And, he exploited their weakness.

There was a Lottery Shop called Jack's Jackpot right opposite the Anthony's Bistro. Many people staked their fortunes in this shop. Very few people ever won anything of consequence. Most of them lost their hard earned money.

Jack Welch was the owner of the Lottery Shop. He was a miserable old man and walked with a limp in his right leg. He had been involved in a few robberies during his heydays. He had been shot in the leg by the Police during one of his heists. He had been caught and had served ten years in the state penitentiary.

After serving his time in the Jail, Jack had opened the Lottery Shop. He had some connections with some local gangs who had lent him the money to open the shop.

There is always a strong connection between Poverty and Hope. The poor people bought lotteries from Jack with great hope of winning something big one day. But, alas only a few people made a little money. Most of them just drained their savings. The only person who made a good fortune was Jack.

Jack had lunch in the Bistro every day. He was a good friend of Anthony. He was as miserable as his friend. He rarely tipped any waiter. If ever he did tip any waiter he gave them a lottery ticket instead of cash. The waiters were disgusted with Anthony and Jack. But, they went through their jobs. Their jobs provided two meals for their families every day and they just could not afford to lose them.

Jack had once tipped a lottery ticket to a waiter called Peter Saddle and he had won a ten dollar reward from his lottery ticket. Jack never forgot to mention this to any waiter when he tipped them.

Jack had once just finished his lunch and as usual, walked away without paying any tip. Mary was the waitress who was attending to him. She noticed that Jack had forgotten his gold watch on the dining table.

Mary ran behind Jack who was limping across the street to his Lottery shop. "Mr. Welch, please stop" Mary ran behind him breathlessly. Jack turned around surprised. "What is it, Mary? It better be something important" he told her in his usual annoyed tone.

"Yes, it quite important Mr. Welch. You forgot your gold watch on the dining table" she answered handing him the gold watch. Jack took the watch and looked pleased. Mary smiled and turned back to return to the Bistro.

Now, even a miserable man like Jack sensed that Mary's act deserved some reward. So, he called out to her and said: "Mary, take this lottery ticket." Mary insisted that she had only done her duty. But, Jack insisted that she accepted the reward and handed her the lottery ticket.

Mary folded the lottery ticket and slipped it in her bosom. She returned to the Bistro and went about her job as usual.

A month later the winning lottery numbers were published in the newspaper. “146-789-251” was the lucky number of the Jackpot Lottery ticket winner. The winner would get 10 Million Dollars reward. There were a thousand other numbers with rewards of a dollar to a few hundred dollars.

Mary took out her lottery ticket and started matching the numbers. She started matching the numbers from the bottom of the list hoping that her number would fetch her at least a week's grocery. She had scanned the exhaustive list to the very top and still, she was out of all luck.

Her hope had almost faded when started matching the first number. The first three numbers "146" of her ticket matched. She sat up tightly. The next three numbers "789" matched. Her eyes lit up. The last three numbers "251" matched. She let out a scream and fainted.

She got up a few moments later and then double and triple checked all her numbers. She was dazed and the stroke of sudden fortune had not completely sunk into her.

After about a half an hour she got up and put on her best red colored dress. She kept the lottery ticket in her handbag securely and headed to Jack's shop to claim her reward.

She opened the door of the lottery ticket gently and said softly "Mr. Welch I have come to claim my reward." "So have you won the Jackpot Mary?" Jack asked her mockingly and chuckled.

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Welch I have," Mary answered with pride and showed him her lottery ticket.

Jack pulled out his spectacles from his overcoat pocket and looked at the number. He matched the number with the winning number in the newspaper. He pulled his hair in horror and screamed. He fainted with shock.

Mary took out a glass of water from the shelf and sprinkled some water on his face. Jack got up and without saying another word limped to the telephone booth and called up the lottery company. He told them that he had the Jackpot winner in his shop waiting to claim her reward.

Mary got ten million dollars reward. All the newspapers carried her rags-to-riches story the next day. She opened a new restaurant called Mary’s Bistro in the same locality. She also opened a school and hospital for poor people. All the people in the locality loved Mary. As for Jack, he started tipping cash to all the waiters. Anthony continued to be a scrooge and soon his hotel closed as everyone left him to work for Mary.

The End