Twist - July 16, 2012

[note: this was written during a writing exercise: we had 20 minutes to write something inspired by the word "twist". This is the result, unedited, exactly as it appeared when time ran out. You can read all of them in the waves category]]

Twist - Squiddy Geiger - July 16, 2012

Like it or not, Paul was here, and reluctantly standing in line for lottery tickets. Sure the jackpot was huge, but that didn't increase his chances of winning, just the depth of his disappointment when he didn't win. He ordered the tickets, and added the Extra.

He folded the tickets and placed them carefully in his wallet as he headed out the door. In another two hours, they'd be able to rip them up and start fretting about another week. In the meantime, he wanted a cold on, so he stopped in at Chelsea's on Eleventh. Marty saw him come in, and started pulling a pint, placing it in front of him as he sat down. Paul nodded his thanks, and watched the sports scores on the television above the bar. Neither said anything.

A few minutes later, his steak sandwich arrived, brought to him by Marissa, from the restaurant side. He nodded, she nodded back. Again, no words. After all these years, there was no need; Paul knew what he liked, and he stuck with it. As he'd told Zander, change is only good if you don't like what you have. He didn't need much, and he had all he needed. Zander, however, felt the need for more, which is why he picked up the tickets.

Three beer and a steak sandwich later, Marty switched over to the live lotto draw. Everyone in the room got out their tickets. Paul got his out, and carefully watched as first one, then two, then three numbers were drawn, and matched his numbers. Wow, ten bucks! Wait, a fourth? Fifty to a hundred bucks, maybe. When the fifth was drawn, he put his beer down. When the sixth was drawn, he stood up. When the seventh number on his ticket was drawn, he sighed.

Damn, now he'd have to go traveling. There was no way Zander would be happy to stay home now. Stupid random draws.

He downed his fourth beer and headed home.

Posted by Squiddy at July 16, 2012 08:45 PM | TrackBack