I Had Your Win On the Tip of My Fingers, But I Let It Slip Right Through My Hands

That title comes from an old Eddy Arnold song. Kind of. He was my mom's favorite singer. So of course I know the songs, having heard them during my formative years, when Mom would put them on the stereo while doing her household chores in the summer. Of course, Eddy was singing about love, and not about lottery tickets.

I buy scratchers every day. I include a ticket for The Pony. I don't have to. He doesn't ask. I'm a giver! I can't help it. When I start to town, I ask The Pony if there's any specific ticket that he wants. And he always says, "No. It really doesn't matter."

For the past two weeks, I've been getting him the newest ticket, because it's new, and the Black Pearl, because he had a $100 winner on it three weeks ago, when I gave him money for the machine at a truckstop on the home from the casino. Before that, he liked the HOT CASH ticket.

Sunday, I bought my tickets at Country Mart. They have two machines. As I passed by on my way in, I noticed that the machine on the left was out of the HOT CASH. That was the ticket I intended to buy for The Pony, since the new ticket I got him the day before was a loser. After paying for my groceries, I went to the machine on the right. I bought a crossword ticket for myself, and the HOT CASH for The Pony. 

Then I went to the left machine. I wanted two of the $3 crosswords, and a $5 ticket for myself. I had to wait for a guy ahead of me. Without being a creeper, I leaned on my cart, and watched to see what tickets he was buying. He turned around a couple times, but I feigned disinterest, and gazed at the stuffed-animal grabber machine. Give me an Oscar!

Anyhoo... I had my eye on an old ticket, the $2,500 a Week For Life. You can hardly find them anymore, but I don't win much on them. The longer I stood there, the more my eye was drawn to the newest $5 ticket, the FIND 500. I could hardly take my eyes off it. I haven't bought them for myself since the first week when they came out. I figured maybe the lighting was just different from where I was standing. And green IS my favorite color. I had every intention of getting the older ticket when I stepped up to the machine. But instead, I got the new green FIND 500.

The whole time I was stowing away the groceries in T-Hoe, I was thinking about that ticket. It's number 012. That's a good low number. I got The Pony a HOT CASH. I never get myself a HOT CASH. Number 028. Also a good number. I guess I could give The Pony a choice of which one he wants. I'm sure he'll take the HOT CASH, for a change. It doesn't really matter. I don't play either one. I'll take the one he doesn't want.

After The Pony carried in the groceries, I pulled the two tickets out of my purse.

"You can either have the FIND 500 (I handed it to him), or the HOT CASH (I handed IT to him)."

"Oh. I'm taking the FIND 500."

"Oh."

"You offered it to me!"

"I thought you'd take the other one."

"It's number 12! When I saw that, I thought 'I'm taking it!'"

"That's what I thought! That ticket made me buy it. I couldn't take my eyes off it."

"Well, you gave me the choice."

"Yeah."

"Oops! You're not gonna like this! The first number I scratched off is a winner! And another winner! A THIRD winner! FOUR! I bet this one is a win all. Like that other one I had!"

The Pony continued to scratch. It was, indeed, a win all. Then he scratched off the amounts.

 

"HUNDRED DOLLAR WINNER!"

 

You can tell The Pony scratched this one. Like a psycho. He starts at the bottom, too.

Oh, and what did "my" HOT CASH win? NOTHING!

 

LOSER! I really thought The Pony would choose this one. Who knew that he's developed WIN-DAR since I've been giving him tickets?