Millionvoyaire

I think I saw someone win a million dollars tonight. I say I think, because it wasn't like when you see it happen on TV. There was no gasping or screaming or fainting, no slapping of foreheads, no hearty congratulations, no laughter, or praising of the lord, or even stunned looks. It was mostly mild confusion, like a transaction between two non-English speakers whose only common tongue is a patchwork of different types of broken English.

I walked into the corner store just down the street to get some snacks and this customer was having a serious tete-a-tete with the clerk concerning a scratch-off lotto ticket. They both looked up when I came in like I had caught them, but with more of an open countenance, like it would be okay if I asked what they were up to. I shopped and eaves dropped and heard them discussing the numbers and reading instructions and exchanging interpretations.

When I finally got up to the counter, the guy took off, but said "I definitely won." The clerk was kind of dazed and had trouble ringing up my items. I asked him if the guy really won like he said. The clerk said yes, but he still seemed too out of it to be credible. In the middle of our transaction, he perked up and then checked the back of one of the same cards as the winning one, one that was still on the dispenser. Then, he turned to me and said, "A million dollars is a lot of money."

As I left the store, I realized that he hadn't rung up my gum. Score! Free gum! A little touch o' that windfall leaking onto me.

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