Gavin Murphy walked into the
convenience store, barely able to contain his excitement. In one
hand, he held the fortune from the Chinese restaurant where he had
lunch.
In the other, he held the lottery
ticket he bought two days ago.
Gavin handed the ticket to the cashier,
who could not have looked more bored. While the cashier took the
ticket to the lottery machine's scanner, Gavin fantasized about all
the ways he could spend the money. Two hundred million dollar
jackpot! he thought, over and over. That's the house, the college
loans, a new car for mom, a trip to--
“Says the ticket's not valid.”
Gavin Murphy snapped out of his
daydream. “What?” he asked, not really believing what he'd heard.
“Looks like the time stamp is
wrong—see, it says 2004. We've been having this problem all
day--our regular machine was out for a couple of days for repairs,
and the replacement printed a bunch of these. We only just found out
yesterday, when the real machine came back.”
“But...but I had all the numbers...I
even got the Red Ball!”
“Sorry, man. Nothing we can do.”
The bottom fell out of Gavin's world,
and he buried his head in his hands. Bad luck had cost him millions
of dollars...nothing but bad luck.
Just like when he ripped the pants of
his suit, right before a job interview. Or when he broke his leg
during the first game of the regional basketball tournament, with
college scouts in attendance. Or when he got food poisoning during
the prom dinner, and he spent all night in the bathroom while his
date danced with his best friend. A hundred breaks that broke against
him; a thousand chances where he never had a chance.
“It's not fair,” he growled, as
frustration overtook his despair. “It's just not fair!” Gavin
slammed his fist on the antiquated cash register, which gave off a
series of strange clangs.
“Hey!” the cashier snapped. “If
that thing's broken, you're in deep shit.” He pressed the 'cash
out' button, and the drawer ejected...notably faster than it normally
did. So fast, in fact, that it tore loose of the register and
embedded itself into the cashier's abdomen. He gurgled and choked for
a few seconds, then fell to the floor.
When the shock wore off, Gavin bolted
for the door. Somewhere along the way he dropped his fortune, which
landed in one of the blood spatters.
“Today is your lucky day.”
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