Lotto

47, 45, 06, 13, 22, 01, the numbers looked familiar, they really did, Chris reached down to his back pocket and pulled out his Lotto ticket and stared at it as the voice of the balls re read the winning numbers in ascending order, 01, 06, 12, 22, 45, 47, Chris started shaking as he re read the numbers over and over again, he wanted to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake, he looked from the ticket to the television, he felt a numbness descend over him, what do I do now? He thought to himself, He started pacing around the room reading the back of the lotto ticket, the print was so small he could hardly focus, his heart beat had almost doubled and his hands were shaking, but he managed to read bits of information on the ticket, the bits that mattered, ‘Guidance on How to Claim a Prize’, he was sure he couldn’t just go marching into his newsagents and demand his share of £57 million so he studied the words carefully, ‘If you believe you have won over £50,000 telephone the National Lottery Line, he read on a little further to get the number and almost ran to the phone.
He stood for a few moments and composed himself; he breathed in and exhaled hard before reaching out and picking up the receiver and dialling the number. There were a number of multiple choice buttons to press to get to his claim, eventually hitting the right choices he managed to speak to an operator, he usually hated machines and multiple choice options when using the phone, but he soon realised that when you are waiting for a share of £57 million then you suddenly have a lot of patience, the operator who was assessing his claim was clearly miserable, she probably had to deal with hoax callers every week, and it probably doesn’t help your enthusiasm for others when they are screaming and whooping at the thought of being rich beyond their wildest dreams and she is sat by a phone earning minimum wage on a Saturday night. They eventually reached a common ground and a representative of the Lottery would visit him the next day with his Cheque and a financial advisor and anything else he needed, the woman’s frostiness didn’t thaw throughout the conversation and this annoyed Chris a little because with a little more effort he probably would have sent her a nice little bonus with his new found wealth as a little ‘Thank you for being there on a Saturday night’, but as it was he hung up and quickly forgot about her.
He didn’t know what to do next, he wanted to jump up and down and scream with excitement, but managed to compose himself enough to ring Dave and tell him the good news.
“Hello.”
“Dave, its Chris, guess what?”
“You’ve won the lottery.” Dave replied to Chris’ question, Chris was slightly taken aback, how did he know the news, he’s only just found out himself, was this a wind up?
“Yes, I have won the lottery how did you know?”
“You win the lottery every week mate then laugh and ask if I’m off to the pub.”
“Yeah but this time it’s true I really have won the jackpot, I didn’t know what to do so I rang you.”
Dave was reluctant to believe his mate but the tone of is voice was unusual, not wanting to seem gullible Dave replied with a sarcastic, “Really?”
Chris almost screamed at him in his excitement, “Yes really, I got the six numbers, now lend me fifty quid and I’ll meet you at he pub.”
“Fifty quid? You’ve won the lottery and you’re tapping me up for fifty quid?”
“I’m skint Dave, and the money doesn’t just appear out of thin air, there’s loads of paperwork and stuff to be done before I get my hands on the cash, I swear mate, I’m telling the truth this time, honestly, I’ll give you it back with 100% interest and take you on holiday, what have you got to lose?”
“Fifty quid.”
“Straight up mate, meet me in the pub in 20 minutes.” Chris was almost begging now, he wanted to go out and celebrate but had spent his last few quid on the lottery ticket, he never really expected to win, so didn’t plan for this scenario, Dave agreed to meet him but only because he wanted to see if his mate was telling the truth and after all, if he was lying, then it was a good excuse to get away from the wife for a few hours.
Chris arrived at the pub and Dave was already there, he was ordering a pint of Carling so Chris stood next to him and told the barman to make it two.
They sat down in a dimly lit corner and sipped their drinks, Dave passed Chris the fifty quid he asked for by sliding it across the table, Chris was forever borrowing money; it wasn’t a problem because he always settled his debts as soon as he got paid, so the transaction between the two was almost a formality.
Chris was visibly excited but he didn’t know what to say to Dave or how to approach the subject of being a millionaire without sounding like he was bragging to his best mate, after all, how do you act when you know that you don’t have to go to work on Monday morning and the man who is celebrating with you has to go back to the boring lifestyle he is accustomed to, the life that, until an hour ago, the life that Chris was accustomed to, it was Dave who spoke first.
“Go on then, how much you won?” he asked nonchalantly but was secretly as excited as Chris, even his stomach was doing cartwheels, it was wrong to assume he would see any of his mates money, but they were best mates, he knew Chris would see him right for a few quid.
“£57 million.” Chris answered as if it wasn’t a big deal, Dave nodded his head and stroked his goatee beard before replying,
“That all, It’s hardly worth winning these days, I mean, what can you buy with £57 million?”
Chris laughed, what couldn’t you buy with that money? Both of them sat in silence for a minute while thinking about what they would spend it on.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I don’t think it will ‘till the money’s in my bank.” Chris said with a slight look of concern in his eyes, he still wasn’t sure if it was true yet, even though he had all the evidence and proof and the winning ticket safely hidden at home, he still didn’t believe it.
Dave nodded in agreement, “I doubt you’ll ever stop pinching yourself, you always be expecting to wake up any moment, have you any ideas as to what to spend your money on? Apart from giving me a hundred quid and taking me on holiday?”
“Not really thought about it, I’ll probably buy my own place, have a nice holiday, see my mates right, might even throw you a few quid too.”
“Take it easy, don’t go mad, at this rate you’ll be buying a new van and a new set of tools and be first on site Monday morning.”
Chris scoffed at the suggestion he’d be going back to work, “you can have my tools if you want them”
“Oh look at mister generous in the corner, ‘have my knackered old tools’, you know what, I will have them off you, I’ll take them to the antiques fair, see what I can get for them.”
They both laughed and Dave nodded at Chris in a mutual understanding that he would be happy to have some of his work tools since he wasn’t going to need them again.
“What you done with the lottery ticket then?”
“Hidden it in a safe place.”
Dave thought for a second, squinted at Chris and asked, “Is it under the clock on the mantelpiece?”
Chris laughed, “No, and I’m not going to tell you where it is.” He shuffled in his seat, slightly worried that his mate had managed to guess where he had hidden the ticket, he hoped someone hadn’t overheard and was now planning to go and burgle him, that’d be is luck! He took another swig of lager and looked around, they were the only ones in that particular part of the pub and he felt confident that the only two people in the pub who knew he had a winning lottery ticket at home were sat at that table and he trusted Dave implicitly, although he still wasn’t going to disclose the whereabouts of the ticket.
They managed to drain five pints each before the pub closed for the night and they were asked to leave, not before Chris had managed to declare that he would buy the pub and keep it open all night. They had chatted all evening about what he could do with the money, it was almost like a fantasy conversation, Dave couldn’t believe it, he was slightly jealous but was really pleased for his mate, “You gonna tell Claire?” Chris asked Dave as they staggered on their way,
“I think I’ll have to, don’t you?” Chris shrugged his shoulders realising that this was a secret that couldn’t be kept and once Claire had hold of it, then the whole world would know within an hour,
“Well in that case Dave, can you not tell her ‘till morning, there are a few people I want to tell the news to myself, and much as I love your lass, she has got a tendency to be terrible at keeping secrets.”
Dave chuckled in agreement, he knew what she was like, and it was her big mouth that had brought them together in the first place, but that was another story, “Yeah, no worries mate, I’m gonna go this way, it’s quicker and it looks like it’s gonna piss it down any second now.” Chris hunched his shoulders up to protect himself from the inevitable downpour,
“Yeah, I just got a few spits of rain on me, I’ll catch you later.”
“See you Chris.”
They set off on their separate ways as the rain started to get heavy but Chris didn’t care, the alcohol had given him a warm feeling and with the thought of all that money in his head meant that no amount of rain could dampen his spirits that evening.