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THE LOTTERY TICKET

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The conviction that I was going to win the lottery was still there the next day. When I told my sister—who is considerably more open to these kinds of psychic premonitions than I am—about it, she got on board without much questioning, which made me question the whole thing. It must be a common thing to be 100% sure… and then 
nothing happens.

The Stoic in me advised to be prepared for the almost certain possibility of not winning, the Nihilist reminded me that it didn’t really matter whether I won or not, the Buddhist warned me against being too preoccupied with the material, while the Hedonic was already rubbing hands. I wasn’t inclined to any particular view. I was all of those people at the same time. 

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A quick internet search informed me that the winning numbers were to be announced at 8 PM. I managed to calm my anxiety up until the time of the draw with some of the options modern-day entertainment has to offer; that is to say I let my mind submerge numbly in a deep sea of mostly forgettable garbage that should have never existed in the first place.

I grabbed the last can of coke from the fridge, sat on the couch, and tuned in to the proper local TV channel. I realized at that moment that I had never watched a lottery draw before. I had watched the commercials, but not the actual thing, because, why would anyone? It was quite an anachronistic spectacle. But then again, I was forty years below the average spectator. 

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An old man with weirdly dyed hair, who probably lamented the invention of high-definition TV, hosted the event in what looked like auto-pilot mode; a pretty woman in a shiny dress picked up the balls from the draw machine while trying to hold a smile, and an adorable chubby kid sang the numbers. I wonder if he is bullied at school or if he is popular. It could go either way really. I hope he’s popular. But not so popular that becomes an asshole. Ok, maybe he could be a bit bullied, only enough so that he grows thicker skin, but not so much that it scars him for life.

The draw lasted less than ten minutes, it wasn’t as ceremonial as I’d have thought, without much preamble the machine started spitting out balls. They took six of them. They put the numbers on the screen.

I compared it with my ticket. 

I had won.