ticket

6 43 12 31 15 29

6 – The five-thirty news reports it.

43 – One ticket. Just one. Sold at Joe’s station on Green and Hemlock. All six numbers — five and the mega — picked by one person. In the whole state, just one person. One person from our little hole-in-the-wall town. A real winner.

12 – Speculation starts over Val’s special: short stack, coffee, sausage. Just eight bucks.

31 – Who bought a ticket? Better question: who hadn’t? Who hadn’t felt lucky? Jackpot at $63 million. 63 million different dreams. In a town of 4703, that’s 13 thousand dreams per person.

15 – Evening news: the winner’s come forward, wants to stay anonymous. Curtains twitch all across town.

29 – (Nobody mentions fuller tip jars or bigger donations or a new scholarship. Nobody looks for your fingerprints on the bills because, really, it’s one mystery they don’t want solved.)