Mega Millions

My father-in-law and I were almost done refurbishing the my dad's place when we turned our attention towards the garage.

My dad's truck had been parked there since the week that he had passed away.

Throughout most of my life, my dad had a company car. Usually an El Camino. He was so bummed when that model was discontinued.

A few years ago he purchased a little Chevy Silverado.

It was a sled and that guy loved nothing more than to tempt fate risk getting a ticket for exhibition of speed.

The Commander and I always laughed when he pulled away from our house on his Sunday visits. It always sounded like someone pulling out of pit row at a race track.

Now his car was sitting there. Unused and unwashed.

I had been turning the engine over once a week but I didn't ever drive it around.

A decision was going to have to be made soon regarding the truck. It was going to have to go somewhere.

My father-in-law asked me if I had taken everything out of the truck and I thought I had but we decided to check one more time.

The vanilla scent of the air freshener was overwhelming when we opened the truck.

I hadn't done a thorough search before and we turned up a couple of new items.

The first thing I found was a brochure for Forrest Lawn - Cypress.

My first thought was that maybe we buried him in the wrong place.

My second thought was that it was too late now.

My father-in-law checked the sun visors and an orange piece of paper fluttered to the truck's floor.

It was a lotto ticket.

A Mega Millions lotto ticket for the first drawing after the day my dad died.

Now I hadn't heard about a winning ticket that hadn't been cashed in but I could help but think how much it would have sucked for this to be a winning ticket.

My father-in-law handed it to me and I put it in my wallet for the time being.

It was a day or two later when I took it to a 7/11 to check and see if my dad was a winner.

I stuck the ticket into the red scanner light of the "Are You A Winner?" lotto machine and in a minute the message that I was dreading appeared on the screen.

"Congratulations! Please see the retailer!"

I can not believe this is a winning lotto ticket. I give it to the old man behind the counter and tell him that I've got a winning ticket. How much is this thing going to be worth?

"Sir, you have won three dollars. Would you like that in cash or would you like to play again?"

I make an audible sigh of relief and ask for two singles and four quarters.

After all, half of this win belongs to Number 2.

VW