BirkholzR1213

dog cat rainbow rain shoes running football mountains building hats mouse nails painting friends friday week train apples tree red test nephew trashcan schoolbus sleep sheep orange princess foot movie popcorn lake canoe fish dolphin lifesaver tired bracelet camp wedding fog laps swimming shower bag water breakfast alarm fifties jeans annoying essay pencil lunch jealous lottery

(mike) wants (to pay back his friends) because (he always borrows money from them) but (once he wins the lottery, everything changes)

A Change of Luck Rachel Birkholz Ms. Riddle 10-2-12

Mike Walton was not a lucky man. He wasn't really an unlucky man, either, but he wasn't someone who found money in his pocket or drove right when the light turned green. He had worked at Lowe's for 10 years and infrequently as a pumpkin salesman. He liked his job as a pumpkin salesman a lot more than his job at Lowe's, but then again, who wouldn't? Even the customers of Lowe's don't like Lowe's, save a few suburban men who channel their built up rage into their yard work. He really did like selling pumpkins, though. Over the years, Mike had borrowed a lot. Not just money, but some of that too. He was always just a little down on his luck while his friends were always just a little up on theirs. They never really minded--Mike was a good friend. He was, however, not the most reliable person. A friend would lend him some money here and there...and he would most likely not pay it back. It was okay though, he always gave his friends the best pumpkins. One fall Friday, Mike was driving home from a particularly boring shift at Lowe’s. He had restocked countless shelves of 2x4s and “humane” mousetraps and he was so ready to go home and take his shoes off. The radio was on, but it was more for background noise than anything else. At a red light, he heard the radio announcer’s booming voice saying how the SuperBucks lottery had reached 100 million dollars. “One hundred MILLION Washingtons, folks. That is some serious money.” Mike nodded his head in agreement. It //was// an insane amount of money. He pondered what he would do with money like that and let his mind wander. He’d finally pay back his friends, quit his job at Lowe’s. Who knows what else. With that kind of money, he didn’t even need to plan how he would spend it. Mike pulled into his driveway, lurching over the asphalt bump that he had grown used to. It was the kind of dark out where there is no difference between closed eyes and open eyes. He knew the walk from his driveway to his front door well, luckily. Right before the step onto his porch, he caught a glint of something near his feet. He kept walking and started to fiddle around in his pants pocket for his house key. But something about that glint bothered him. He walked back and squinted his eyes around, trying to recapture the glint. He saw the glint for only a second and floated his hands around the area until he finally picked up a piece of paper-- a lottery ticket. He suddenly felt quite silly for going back to find this. For some reason, he thought that he was going to find something very important--not that he knew what in particular that was. He crumpled the ticket into his jeans pocket and went to bed. The next day, he worked for 12 hours straight at the pumpkin stand and loved every second. He loved helping chubby little children pick out the perfect pumpkin. He loved how everyone loved pumpkins. He walked through his front door with one of those grins that just wouldn’t leave. He kicked off his shoes and turned on his TV. “And the last number is....22! There you have it, folks. The winning SuperBucks ticket of 34 77 81 22 is now worth one-hundred MILLION dollars!” Mike shook his head and flipped to ESPN. Two weeks passed, with Mike going on with his life as he always had. Lowe’s, pumpkin stand, home. Lowe’s, pumpkin stand, home. One day in the employee’s lounge of Lowe’s, he overheard his manager talking to another cashier. “Did you hear that they still haven’t found the winner of SuperBucks?” “Crazy! Who in the world hasn’t heard about it? Man...if i had that type of cash...I don’t even know what I’d do.” Mike suddenly remembered his lottery ticket from a few weeks ago. Could it be the one? He shook his head. Of course it wasn’t him! He was Mike--unlucky Mike! Regardless, as soon as he got home, he searched through all of his pants in the hamper until he found that crumpled up ticket. He took it and sat down at the computer and searched, “super bucks lottery winning numbers.” He looked up at the first number in the result **34** and looked down at his ticket. 34. //It must just be a coincidence//, he thought, trying to not get his hopes up in the slightest. He looked at the second number, **77**, and the third, **81**. They were both on his ticket. Now Mike was angry. This was just unfair. Getting his hopes up like this. He didn’t want to look at the last number--he just //knew// it wouldn’t be his-- but he couldn’t help himself. **22**. He looked down at his ticket. 22. Now, when people think about winning the lottery, they normally don’t think about how to go about telling people that they’ve done so. Thankfully, the local news station took care of that problem for Mike. After he contacted SuperBucks, a representative from SuperBucks and a news reporter came to his door. A giant check was given to him and plenty of awkward handshakes were given and received. The next day, Mike went into work. The lottery business had not yet sunk in, really. He put on his blue Lowe’s vest and hoped that a good day of dull work would help settle his thoughts. When he got to work, a mob of coworkers flanked him. “Mike! Mike! Hey! How are you? Have I told you that my daughter’s birthday is coming up...?” “Mike! Remember when I lent you those 10 bucks?” “Mike! I’ll take your shift for you today if you want! That’s what friends do, right?” Mike was speechless. Most of these people had only talked to him once or twice. They weren’t his friends. They were just people he worked with. But he couldn’t //not// help them, right? That would be greedy and he certainly wasn’t that. So he nodded his head and promised to give them all their fair share, as soon as he got the money. During his lunch break, Mike checked his phone and saw that he had 8 missed calls and 8 voicemails. All were messages from estranged family and friends, reminding him of their fair share that was due. Mike sighed. Well he couldn’t give money to his coworkers who he barely knew and not to the people who once played a role in his life! So he called them all back and promised that they would get what they believed they deserved as soon as he had the money. Mike had never even imagined that this was what winning the lottery would be like. And honestly, he wasn’t sure if he liked it. When Mike got off work, he felt exhausted. He couldn’t wait to just go home and take off his shoes. As he opened the door to his house, he could sense something different. “SURPRISE!” he heard, as twenty of his close friends popped out. He plastered on a smile. “Hey guys! Now I can finally pay you all back, right?” They all just looked at him. “Mike, we don’t care about that! We’re just happy for you! I mean...we won’t refuse the money, of course! But this is just to celebrate your luck finally turning for the better!” Paul said. Mike felt so relieved. These were his true friends. These were the people who deserved the money most of all. He made a mental note to give them their fair share too, when the money came. After a fun night with his friends, Mike was ready to go to sleep. Just as he was crawling into bed, the phone rang. “Hello?” Mike answered. “Um...Hello...Mike Walton? This is Jennifer Brown, from the SuperBucks legal office. I’m afraid I have some unfortunate news. Your lottery ticket turns out to be fraudulent. I’m very sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. Could you tell me where it was purchased, Mr. Walton?” “Uh...uh...I just found it outside my house.” “Well, sir, I’m very sorry then. There’s no legal backing behind the ticket then. Again, I’m very sorry.” And with that, the line went dead. Mike’s mind went blank. He went to bed. When Mike woke up the next morning, he didn’t know how to feel. He felt numb. He put on his blue Lowe’s vest and drove into work. Again, a new mob of coworkers flanked him at the door, trying to connect with the lucky Mike. He didn’t know how to tactfully explain what had happened, so he just said it. The smiles on all of his coworker’s faces broke. They all gave an apology and resumed working. Mike could feel his day getting better and better. During his lunch break, Mike called back all of these estranged friends and faamily to break them the news. They took it well, but Mike could tell that they would not be calling back any time soon. He could feel his day getting better and better. On his way out of work, Mike ran into Paul. He told him the news, for what felt like the one thousandth time that day. Paul shook his head, “Oh Mike...I’m so sorry, man. Well, we’re all still here for you. Tell me if you need anything.” Mike nodded and felt his day, again, getting better and better. Although Mike did not actually win the lottery that day, his luck did change. That day, he realized, as he got home and took off his shoes, he truly learned who his friends were. Who cared about him. And that there were people out there he cared about him at all. In a way, he felt relieved that he hadn’t actually won the lottery. He did not want the burden of winning the lottery. The next day, he quit his job at Lowe’s and decided to become a full-time pumpkin farmer-salesman, with the help of some loans from his friends, of course.