Apparently, Even Steven is a Friend of The Pony

For those of you who were concerned yesterday that The Pony would have to spend his hard-earned money on a new tire... quit your frettin'!

We went to the casino on Sunday. But that's not what this story is about. It's about what happened on the way HOME from the casino.

Hick threw a monkey wrench in my journey home. We always gas up before we go, then make a stop about 2/3 of the way home, so Hick can use the bathroom of the LOVE'S Truckstop, and The Pony can go in and get me some scratchers from their machine. I give him ticket money for himself for his trouble.

THIS TIME, we weren't even out of Casino Town when Hick pulled over at a gas station. Huh. Maybe I should have been worried about running out of gas on the way down there! How inconsiderate of Hick not to tell me. I missed out on some angst.

Anyhoo... Hick pumped the gas, then went inside. He returned with a Diet Mountain Dew and a Milky Way. 

"I hope this doesn't mean we'll be going straight home. We ALWAYS stop at the LOVE'S station. For my tickets."

"We can stop."

I'm pretty sure Hick was just a little cranky from his casino experience.

Anyhoo... as we went up the exit ramp 55 miles later, I turned to tell The Pony which tickets I wanted.

"...and if they don't have the crosswords, you can get me some $5 tickets in their place. You know what I like. But I still want the three $3 crossword tickets. You can have $10 to spend on yourself."

Sometimes The Pony buys a $10 ticket. Sometimes the $5 tickets. And last time he got a combination of $5, $3, and $2.

He came back to A-Cad with bad news.

"They were out of the $5 crosswords. So you have a $5 50X, and a $5 Black Pearl. I also got a Black Pearl for me. And a $5 Hot Cash. Here. You can pick which one you want. They're number 55 and 56."

"It doesn't matter to me. I'm not attached to either number. You can pick."

"All right. Then here, you get the 56."

I always save my tickets until we get home, to scratch in my lair. But The Pony does his right there in the back seat, leaning forward to lay the ticket on A-Cad's console.

"Ooh! Winner! And another winner! And another! I'm starting to think they're all going to be winners!"

"Wait. Did you start from the bottom of the ticket?"

"Yeah. I look for symbols first. And I have the pearl necklace automatic win symbol. And some repeating numbers. We'll see. I'm scratching off the top numbers to see what matched... YEP! All winners!"

"That's gonna be good. They can't all be five dollars. There isn't a $75 winner on those tickets."

"Looks like fives and tens."

"That's a $100 winner!"

Yes. The Pony's flat tire replacement has been paid for. With $5 to spare.

 The Pony definitely scratched this ticket. It looks like a psycho got ahold of it!

I can't believe my WINDAR is on the fritz! I got no vibe at all from this ticket. If The Pony had pressed me to make the choice, I would have chosen 055, because double numbers stand out more than 056. But I really had no compulsion to be the picker. The Pony said he, too, decided on 55 because of the double.

Even Steven has some 'splainin' to do.