A Classic Kickoff for Val's New Year: A Penny and a Weirdo

I might have to reconsider abandoning my Future Pennyillionaire Fortune quest. First cat out of the bag on New Year's Day, I found a penny walking out of the Gas Station Chicken Store. Of course, Val was the one walking out... not the penny. That would be just crazy!

Having picked up my rightful penny, I continued to T-Hoe, and was accosted by a weirdo before I could get the door open!

A man in a red pickup truck pulled up beside me. He had been chatting up the cashier when I went inside, and slowly made his exit when she kindly dismissed him and motioned me to the counter.

"Hello. Your name wouldn't be Jan Crudburger, would it?" [I can't remember the exact name, but it was something just as unfortunate! I should have written it down, but I was sure it was so memorable I could recall it later...]

"Uh. No... my last name is Thevictorian."

"Oh. Well. You look just like an old friend of mine."

"Huh. That's good, I guess?"

"You know, they say we all have a double."

"I believe it! People ask me all the time if I'm someone else."

"Not me. I don't have a double. I look just like my damn dad! Every time I look in the mirror, I see him looking back."

"Well... every day we get a little bit closer to looking like our parents, I guess..."

With that, I yanked open T-Hoe's door (without hitting myself in the leg--I'm so proud!) and hoisted myself inside. The weirdo drove off after a couple minutes. I did NOT look out my window to see what he was doing. I busied myself writing my initials for the Gas Station Chicken Store on the back of my scratchers.

Let the record show that Weirdo was not a bad man (that I know of). Not too creepy. Just a lonely old man around 65 years old, with no bottom teeth. But he needs a better pickup line!

Once I heard him drive off, I started up T-Hoe and headed to Country Mart for my $3 tickets out of their machines. You're not gonna believe this, but as I pulled into my second favorite parking space down on the left end at the front of the store... 

I SAW WEIRDO GET OUT OF HIS TRUCK THAT WAS PARKED IN THE FIRST SPACE TO THE RIGHT OF THE DOOR!

If I had been in my favorite parking spot, I would have paraded myself down the sidewalk right in front of him! Then started my dilemma. Should I go inside and get my tickets as fast as I could? What if HE was there to get tickets? Maybe I should wait. Perhaps he was grocery shopping. But what if I waited too late, and he was at the checkout when I went inside, and saw me on his way out the door?

I snatched up my $12 of winners to cash in, and started inside. The coast was clear. There was a different old man checking out. One with all his teeth, and a gray beard. I got my tickets, and did not look back.

And so began 2023 for Val Thevictorian.