The Lottery Ticket

“Hello, Liana, I didn’t know you shop here, otherwise I could have given you a lift, carrying all those bags in the bus must be drudgery!” Liana turned round to the loud voice behind.

“Oh, hello Joyce, it’s alright, thanks anyway. James will help…”

“I am going to get some lottery tickets, do you want one? Not that we need the jackpot, but they do provide a bit fun to boring Saturday night TV. Come on, I’ll get you one if you don’t mind the numbers I choose.” Joyce took a big handful of tickets and started to pick the numbers.

“We don’t buy lottery tickets; James doesn’t believe…”

“Never mind him, here, I’ll choose the same numbers for these two tickets and we each have one, if we get any prize, count it as my treat. Must dash, George is waiting for me in the restaurant to have lunch. Good luck. Liana,” Joyce put a ticket in Liana’s hand and rushed away.

“Err…thanks, Joyce, goodbye…” Liana wasn’t sure what to do with the ticket. Suddenly James appeared.

“Ready, dear? What’s the matter? Are you looking for something?” He took over some bags.

“I just saw Joyce, and she bought a lottery ticket for me.” Liana showed him the ticket.

“Never mind her! She does nothing but showing off!” James took over the ticket and dropped it in a shopping bag.

Early on the following Sunday morning, Joyce was outside Liana’s door.

“Morning, Joyce, What brought you…?”

“Liana dear, you remember that lottery ticket I bought you? You said James doesn’t believe in the lottery. Where is the ticket?” Joyce sounded strange.

“I don’t know. I think….”

“Think hard, Liana, it’s important!” Joyce was impatient.

“I gave it to James and he…I really don’t know what he did with it. Why? I could pay you the pound if you…” Liana couldn’t understand why Joyce got so worked up about the ticket.

“I don’t want your money, I just want the ticket. Come on, Liana, think harder, where did James put the ticket? You must know,” Joyce looked angry.

James came back from his morning run.

“Where did you put my lottery ticket, James?” Joyce asked hopefully.

“What lottery ticket? Oh! The one you gave Liana? I dropped into…”

“Where? Where did you drop, James?” Joyce was anxious.

“What’s the matter, Joyce? It’s only a ticket…” Liana was puzzled.

“That’s a runner up ticket! Oh, I mean I didn’t know I was going to pick the right numbers, this is the first time I ever wan anything big. Not that the money matters, but it would pay for a nice holiday in Australia, and I did pick the numbers, and you didn’t really want it, did you? Liana, I thought …”

“Oh … I see, you want the ticket back.” Liana looked at Joyce’s face, and had a strange feeling, “I’ll ask James to look for it.”

“Look in the shopping bags!” James was on his way to the bathroom.

Liana searched through the bags and found the crumpled ticket.

“Oh, Liana, thank you, George would be pleased to know I got the ticket, he thought you would never give it back to me. I know you would,” Joyce grabbed the ticket from Liana’s hand, “I shall remember to bring you a souvenir back from Australia, must dash now. Bye!”

Liana stood on the doorway silently. She just came round to realise what had happened.

“A runner up prize! It could pay for my new cooker, new washing machine and a new bike, or even a car. Oh Good Heavens! She is just going to blow it on a holiday in Australia!” Liana had a trace of anger in her voice, “She said it was going to be a treat for me!”

“Never mind. Easy come easy go! That’s what lottery prizes come to.”

A month later, Liana went to a village fair, she was shocked to hear bad news about Joyce and George. Their house was burgled while they were on holiday in Australia; they had lost a large sum of money because the insurance company was having trouble too.

Liana put a load of dirty clothes into the old washing machine and turned it on, but nothing happened.

“James, the washing machine needs a kick from you to start.”

“Alright, dear.”

“Poor Joyce, she must feel horrible.” Liana sighed.

“Didn’t I say? Easy come easy go!”

“What? Oh.”