Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 05 - A Deadly Change of Luck Read Free

“Congratulations.  You have just won a million dollars,” but of course, there was no soda in the can.  In his dream, he crawled across the sun-scorched desert searching for water, but never found it.  The last scene from his dream was always of a pair of buzzards circling overhead as he took his last breath.  He shook the unpleasant thought from his head.
    Adjusting his glasses, he squinted at the small numbers printed on the page.  He rubbed his eyes and looked again.  It couldn’t be right.  His mind was foggy, he told himself.  He checked again.  The first number was the day of Frankie’s birthday.  The second was Nellie’s, and the third was Joey’s.  The fourth matched Maggie’s birthday and the fifth was their wedding anniversary.  But what about the sixth mega number?   Was it really Scotty’s birthday?  Could he be dreaming?  He checked again.  There was no question.  He’d just picked all six numbers in the California Lottery, worth over fifty-eight million dollars.  His heart raced and nearly pounded out of his chest.
    The clock on the wall said it was nearly midnight.  There was no one he could call at this hour to tell.  He thought of calling Joey, but wasn’t even sure where he was staying since his separation from Bridgett.  He wanted to dance around his kitchen, but the dark cloud of Joey’s bad news kept him from floating off the floor.  He felt like an oaf for not asking Joey if he needed a place to stay.  Lou would love to have his son’s company.  He’d been so lonely ever since… well, anyhow, he’d call Joey at work in the morning to tell him the good news.  Then he could convince him to move back home into his old room until he got his life in order.  They could cheer each other up just by keeping each other company. 
    Suddenly, he wasn’t sleepy anymore.  He walked around the house three times, wondering what to do.  In the morning, he would call the lottery officials to find out how to claim the prize money.  A sudden fear overtook him.  He stared at the newspaper.  Home invasion robberies in his neighborhood occurred every night for the past four nights.  The homeowners were tied up and gagged while the robbers cleaned them out.  Lou removed the lottery ticket from his wallet.  He just knew that with his luck, tonight would be the night his house was hit, and they’d steal the ticket.  He nervously paced the house, searching for the perfect hiding place until he could get it safely to the claims office to collect his winnings.  He finally decided on a place he was sure no one would ever look.  After he finished hiding it, he paced the house another half-dozen times.
    “How am I ever gonna get to sleep?” he asked himself.  He wandered around the house, performing his routine chores in order to save time in the morning and, hopefully, to tire himself out so he could fall asleep.  He poured himself a glass of milk, remembering something he’d read about how calcium could help relieve insomnia.
    He grimaced at the price tag stuck to the lid of a bottle of calcium supplements.  Then he laughed.  He couldn’t believe he was getting all worked up about a few dollars when he was now worth over fifty million. 
    He danced around the kitchen and sang the name of every model car he intended to buy.  Then he began naming cities where he’d like to have houses— one for every season.  Then he remembered a yacht he’d seen in a magazine that he would love to have.  He and Joey could go deep-sea fishing.  He danced and laughed so hard the muscles in his stomach hurt and tears rolled down his face.  He caught his reflection in the toaster on the counter and laughed at how red the distorted image of his face was.  He looked like a clown.  He doubled over in the middle of his kitchen, wiping the tears from his eyes.  He could barely catch his breath.  Then, he felt a tremendous pressure around his upper torso.  He felt like an elephant was