The Lottery Ticket
Short Story | Fiction
Before you read this story, surf on over and read (or re-read) my short story “Friday the 13th”, first, if you haven’t already. This tale continues the one started in the earlier story.
[1,726 words]
Alice Starlin stood in the convenience store, her eyes wide open with shock at the news she’d won the Powerball. The winning ticket hung from her limp fingers.
“Ma’am?”
His voice whacked Alice like a beanbag. She shook her head and glanced at the store owner’s name tag.
Wali Patel smiled and waved his hands behind the counter as if he were directing an orchestra. “Register online as soon as possible, ma’am. As the store owner, I’ll receive a good chunk of money.”
“But I didn’t buy this ticket. It was on the ground. I only saw it because I was avoiding the black cat outside.”
“Doesn’t matter, ma’am. It’ll be between you and me. Please. I want my children to go to university. Don’t you have dreams you’d like to come true?”
“Dreams?” Alice stared at the ticket. “Yes, I guess so.” Her mind grabbed the steering wheel of her thoughts and drove her down a two-lane road along a river nestled in a canyon surrounded by snow-capped mountains where, from the highway’s shoulder, she watched the tall, handsome stranger drive away in his dually pickup truck.
“Ma’am? Will you register your ticket?”
Alice smiled, “You bet I will. Show me how.”
She walked out of the convenience store with renewed determination. This Friday the 13th would be her lucky day. Before she headed to her Toyota Camry, Alice stopped and looked around the front of the store. Under a hedge to the right, she saw a dark shape, like a small lump.
“Kitty?” Alice tip-toed toward the hedge. “Kitty, is that you? If yes, today’s your lucky day, too.”
“Merrow!” Kitty stretched and ran to Alice’s legs, rubbed against her ankles, and purred.
Alice picked up Kitty. “Let’s go home. We have dreams to make come true.”
***
Alice hummed as she drove her brand new Range Rover Sport north on Wyoming 191. She looked over at Kitty who napped on her plush, cashmere-and-silk bed on the passenger seat. Her new, red harness was secured to the seat belt. It sparkled with tiny diamond studs that spelled out her name.
“Yes, Kitty’s dreamin’ and so am I,” Alice hummed. Will I be able to find him? Is he still in the area?
“In an eighth of a mile, turn left on Iron Springs Road,” intoned the GPS man.
As they approached the turnoff, Alice sucked in her breath, pulled over to the shoulder, and parked. As she walked around her Range Rover Sport and gazed at the take-your-breath-away scenery, she remembered. She gasped as the sound of an exploding tire came to mind. She shivered at the memory of her Toyota Camry’s violent vibrations as they snaked up her spinal cord. She wrapped her windbreaker around her as she remembered there were no tools in the trunk, and her cell phone’s battery was dead. Alice walked to the front of her Range Rover Sport, leaned on the hood, took in the sunset glow on the mountain peaks, and remembered. The huge pickup truck hauling a horse trailer. The driver passing by and waving, then swinging his rig around across the road’s two lanes. He pulled up behind her Camry. His Stetson. His tall, lanky stature. His Wranglers and boots. His kind eyes.
“Need help, Miss?”
He looked only five years older than she, maybe 30, and when their eyes met, she felt sparks in places she had never felt before.
“Uh, yes, please. If you don’t mind. I have a spare tire, but no tools.”
“I don’t mind at all Miss….” They both stood there, eyes locked and sparks rising, until Alice found her voice again.
“Alice. I’m Alice and thank you. Thank you for your help, uh….”
“Cody. Let me get started so you can go on your way. Alice.”
I don’t want to go on my way, Cody. I want to go away with you.
Alice blushed as she led him over to the Camry’s trunk. Cody pulled out the spare tire, got his tools from his truck, and in about fifteen minutes, Alice’s damaged tire no longer posed a danger.
As she leaned on the hood of her Range Rover Sport, Alice remembered that what followed the tire change was a blur. Cody stuttering about needing to go to a rodeo. Something about competing in team roping. Their eyes still locked on each other and the sparks Alice felt exploding inside. Cody gently lifting her hand to his lips. His soft kiss and the tender squeeze of his fingers before he rushed off to his truck and drove away. Alice drove on to Montana to care for her ailing grandmother, who had raised her, and start a new job in town in two days. After her grandmother died four years later, Alice felt lost. She accepted a new job in Seattle, settled into a routine, and wandered the shops and coffee houses. After a year, her employer moved her to Denver, and the mountains of the Western Range taunted her with memories of Cody.
Alice fingered the keys to her Range Rover Sport. “Cody, I’m back,” she whispered into the wind. “Will I find you?”
***
Kitty purred as she lounged on her cashmere-and-silk bed that Alice had placed on top of the huge king-sized bed at Iron Springs Ranch Resort and Spa just outside of Jackson Hole. Alice lay next to Kitty, wearing a cobalt-blue silk robe and cashmere-lined slippers. She thumbed her phone and sighed.
Too many Codys in this area. And they all seem to be cowboys.
“Kitty, you look happy. No more dumpster diving for you and hiding from dogs, right? We both have a new life thanks to you walking on that Powerball ticket.” Alice scratched Kitty’s chin. “Well, I have an appointment at the spa for a massage, so enjoy your nap. I’ll be back soon.”
As Alice lay on the massage table the masseuse, Katie Jo, asked her how she could help Alice with her stay in Jackson Hole.
“Do you know much about rodeos?”
“I sure do. I was Rodeo Queen about five years ago.”
“Have you heard of a team roper named Cody? I don’t know his last name.”
“Well, there’s been a couple of Codys. It’s a common name. Do you mean someone local or from out of town?”
“I think he’s a local. But, I’m not sure.”
“Oh.” Katie Jo grew quiet. “Well, there was Cody Miller.”
“Was?”
“Yea. Cody Miller was killed two years ago. Drunk driver hit his vehicle head-on.”
***
Back in her room after the massage, Alice sat on the soft leather love seat, Kitty nestle on her lap. She stared out the large windows at the view of the Tetons. Alice felt numb.
“Kitty, I’ve tried to find Cody. I’ve asked several people, but if Cody was from here, it sounds like he’s no longer with us.” Alice brushed a tear off her cheek. “We’ll still go through with our plans tomorrow, Kitty. Even if just to remember him one more time.”
The next morning, on the anniversary of the flat tire, the Concierge met Alice and Kitty at her room. He carried a huge wicker basket.
“Good morning, Ms. Johnson. We have packed your meals for the day. Our chef prepared a very special breakfast, lunch, and dinner for your day. I’m certain you will be pleased. Are you ready to depart?”
“Thank you, yes. We’re going to my car now.”
After the Concierge secured the basket in the SUV, Alice drove to the location on the road’s shoulder where she had first met Cody. She watched the rising sun fill the mountains and the meadows with a golden light as she and Kitty ate their breakfast. She watched the cumulus clouds form lenticulars as they ate their lunch. Alice took Kitty on a few short walks so she could do her business, the diamond studs glittering in the sunlight.
Vehicles passed them as the hours ticked by, but no one stopped. Alice sighed and looked at the dinner packages in the basket. “Well, Kitty, it’s almost the time that my tire blew. We’ll wait another hour, then we’ll go back to the resort and have our dinner.”
As the time of the tire change drew closer, Alice felt her body tingle. She opened the door, walked to the front of her Range Rover Sport, and stared down the highway. A few minutes later, a huge pickup approached, slowed down, drove by, and swung around, crossing the two-lane road. The truck pulled up behind her SUV and parked. The driver wore a western hat. Alice gasped when he stepped out and walked toward her.
“Alice?”
“Cody!”
“Alice!”
Alice started to run. “Yes, it’s me, Cody.”
They both ran and embraced each other.
“Alice, I’ve come by this spot every year for five years, hoping I’d find you again.”
“Oh, Cody, life’s been crazy. But, this past year, things worked out to help me look for you.”
“I thought maybe you had forgotten about me, but I could never forget you.”
“Everyone here that I asked told me you had died. But I didn’t know your last name. They said a Cody Miller was killed by a drunk driver.”
Cody gently took Alice’s face in his hands and gazed into her eyes. “He was my friend, Alice. I’m not from here. My last name is Hamilton, and I live in eastern Oregon. Powell Butte area.”
Alice’s thoughts swirled in a wild storm of emotions. She couldn’t pin one down. “Are…are you hungry?” She stammered as tears filled her eyes. “I have a very nice picnic dinner in my car, and the weather’s nice out, and the sunset will be beautiful, and….”
Cody kissed the tears on her cheeks and then softly kissed her lips. “I’m starving,” he whispered.
“Oh, Cody.” Alice wept as she clung to him. She poured out her story of the last five years, how Kitty had played a part in her winning the Powerball on an unlucky day, and how she used her winnings to try and find him.
Cody stroked her hair. “Well, Alice, we both have a new lucky day. The date your tire blew and the date you won the lottery are the same.”
Alice laughed through her tears and hugged Cody tighter. “Yes, we do. Happy Friday the 13th.“
© Copyright 2023—Present, Jenise Cook, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
About this Story
I received a question regarding my 50-word story “Friday the 13th”:
Fellow Substack writing colleague, Mark Starlin (Mark Starlin Writes!), wrote the above comment below my story “Friday the 13th”, and I was surprised at my reply.
Where did that come from? An unspoken desire of mine?
Perhaps, ha ha. So, I decided to write a new short story to vicariously enjoy Alice’s adventures with Kitty in Wyoming. Boy, howdy, I sure didn’t see the direction the new story would go.
Your Turn
What did you think about this story, my answer to Mark Starlin’s question? Let me know by leaving a comment.
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Thank you for reading. I appreciate you!
I sense a Great chic flic coming from this story! Nicely done!
Ahhh, I always enjoy a love story with a happy ending. Thank you!