Six Numbers

Chapter 1-2

That evening he turned on the television to catch the Lotto numbers while he made dinner. His notepad and pencil were right beside the chopping board; the white paper spotted with red capsicum juice. When it came time for the draw, he waited until half the numbers had been selected before he started to jot them down. After he’d recorded the final number, he pushed the notepad and pencil to one side and continued preparing his salad.

He ate dinner watching Funniest Home Videos before doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. When everything was as it should be, he collected his notepad and pencil, retrieved his Lotto tickets from beneath the statuette of Buddha then walked across to the couch and sat down. At first he was just circling the odd number here and there. Six lines down on the coupon containing his regular numbers he discovered he had the first three winning numbers, but nothing more. This heart-quickening occurrence had happened many times in the past. In fact, once he’d had the first four numbers. He’d won a small prize, enough to keep him interested, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

He arrived at the bottom of the coupon without a prize and started on his Slikpik. By now he was only half-concentrating. He’d always figured that if he was going to win anything, he’d win on his regular numbers. After all, isn’t that what everyone said? If you played your numbers often enough, they’d come up sooner or later.

It was a strange sensation, knowing he’d won before actually circling the numbers. Since he’d already checked sixteen games, the six winning numbers were firmly fixed in his brain. He only had to glance at the fifth line on his Slikpik to know he had them. But what his mind found difficult to comprehend, the rest of his body certainly didn’t. He could feel a great ball of excitement whirling and growing in his stomach. His heartbeat quickened. So did his breathing. Regardless of what he already knew, he had to physically circle the numbers. To make it real. With a trembling hand he ringed each number with pencil then held the ticket up to examine it more closely. To make doubly certain he hadn’t made a terrible mistake, he picked up the notepad and checked the circled numbers on his ticket against the numbers written on the lined paper.

It finally sunk in. He’d won! He’d won! Elated, he leapt off the couch and dashed to the telephone. Still trembling, he somehow managed to dial.

The wait for someone to pick up was interminable.

“Mum, I’ve won!”

The Lotto numbers were a regular part of their weekly conversations. At that time on a Saturday night his mother didn’t have to ask what he’d won.

“Thirteen fifty?” she replied, jokingly.

“No, no, no,” he stuttered. “Division one. First prize.”

“You’re kidding!” she gasped, incredulously.

Benjamin started laughing. “No, I’m really not. I promise you. I’ve won Division One.”

“How much?”

“Division One is ten million dollars, but I don’t know how many other people have won.”

He heard his mother shout the news out to his father. “Ben’s just won ten million dollars!”

“That’s the Division One prize, Mum. I don’t know how many other people have won. I might not have won the whole ten million.”

“Doesn’t really matter, does it? Whatever you’ve won is going to be fantastic.”

Benjamin felt a flood of endorphins wash through his body. “It sure is.”

It was an impossible task to sleep that night. He spent a good deal of time planning how to spend his money whether it was going to be ten million dollars, five million or two million. Firstly, he decided, he was going to buy himself a nice house in a nice area. He’d hire someone to clean it and to cook. He’d give some money to his parents and donate some to charity—an animal charity. He’d always liked animals more than people. Besides, most people donated to ‘people’ charities. He’d put the rest in the bank to earn interest while he decided what to do with it.

The following morning, bleary-eyed, he checked the Lotto dividends online then rang his mother again.

“I forgot to tell you last night not to tell anyone,” he said.

“I’ve already told your father,” his mother replied.

“I know. Just don’t tell anyone else. Not even your best friend.”

He’d heard alarming tales of what happened to people who won large sums of money—begging letters, stalkers, and kidnap threats. Long lost relatives and old friends appearing out of the gloom of the past.

“If that’s what you want. Do you know how much you’ve won, yet?”

Benjamin swallowed. “Mum, I’ve won the whole bloody lot! Ten million dollars!”

As he spoke the words it suddenly hit him what having ten million dollars meant. On one hand, it meant absolute freedom. He could leave his job as sales manager of a menswear shop. If he was careful with his money, he’d never have to work again. There was no way he was going to be reckless with it and end up right back where he started. Or worse. He could travel and see the world, meet new people and maybe even get the one thing he craved most of all—someone to love him.

On the other hand, it was a huge responsibility. There’d be any number of people trying to relieve him of his riches. He’d have to see a financial advisor. No doubt about it. He didn’t want taxes and fees slowly eating away at it like a cancer.