The luckiest man in the world

Lucas sat in his recliner watching the numbers come up on his tv screen.  04, 28, 32, 59, 14.  Lucas let out a chuckle.  He had won again!  He could see the headlines tomorrow. “Luckiest man in the world wins lottery for the 5th time!”  Now he could buy that third vacation home he’d been wanting.  This time in Peru.  Then he truly would have everything he’d ever wanted.  Except for maybe the jet.  He needed a jet to get to all these places, right?  He couldn’t be expected to travel on a commercial airline...not anymore!  As thoughts of his..yet again...new found wealth, circled through his mind, he nodded to himself, chuckled again, and drained the last of his beer.  He soon realized that this was his last beer, and it was Andrew’s day off...he would have to run to the market to get more beer himself?  What an odd thing.  He hadn’t had to go to the store in ages!  At least not since he won the second time.  The first time he won he told himself it wouldn’t change him, and for the most part it didn’t, but the second time he won...that’s when things started to change.  Everything changed.

“Well, this ought to be an adventure” he mumbled to his South American Sun Conure parrot, Sunset.  He had bought the bird for his sister, before she stopped talking to him. The birds bright colors, and subtle graceful beauty had reminded him of her.  His baby sisters fiery red hair, and beautiful flowing dances.  Ever since she was a baby, she’d always said she wanted to grow up to be a ballerina, he always thought she would grow out of that phase, but she never did.  She was a sophomore at Juilliard now, dancing her heart out, and he wished that for her.  They had always been the best of friends, until well after the 3rd time he had won, when she told him that the new him wasn’t someone she wanted in her life.  She missed the old him, the Lucas she had grown up with.

He grabbed his jacket and his keys.  Keys.  When was the last time he had driven himself anywhere?  He looked at Sunset again.  “This ought to be really interesting!”  The parrot nodded in agreement.

Somewhere between pulling out of the garage, and parking at the store that was closest, the thought occurred to him, that maybe he shouldn’t be driving.  He had had a few beers.  Eh, he’d only had a few beers!  He pulled into an empty parking spot, got out, and began to weave through the sea of parked cars to get to the entrance of the store.  Something told to stop, and look down.  Lying there on the ground, about to blow away, was a crisp $100 bill.  Lucas smiled, and put the bill in his pocket.  “Free beer” he said to himself.  “Yup, luckiest man in the world!”

Lucas wandered up and down all the aisles, taking in the new products, and different brands.  Everything seemed new to him.  When had he stopped shopping himself?  The frightening truth was, he had no earthly idea when he had stopped.  As he continued to meander through the aisles, some internal alarm went off in his head.  He’d had enough of the store, he wanted out of here Now!  There was something so frustrating about his discovery of this old/new world.  Just going to the store for the first time in ages, and seeing strange new things, that strangers were grabbing off the shelves, made him feel like he’d been missing out on a whole other world.  Just like a little kid who’s tired, but doesn’t want miss anything, Lucas felt like throwing a tantrum, right there in the store.  What was wrong with him?  He quickly escaped the canned goods aisle, and found his way to the beer aisle.  He stopped and stared at an entire row of different kinds of beer.  What on earth?  Now he really wanted to throw a tantrum.  He grabbed the beer that he usually found in his fridge, and all but ran to the checkout lines.  Lines.  Now he had to wait in line?  Lucas heaved a great sigh of frustration, and picked the shortest line.  Apparently not the fastest one though.  

As the line inched forward, he began to take notice of the woman in front of him.  He’d been so absorbed in his own panic, that he’d somehow missed the fact that she had a screaming baby resting on her left hip, and a shopping basket filled with diapers and formula balancing on her right hip.  The screaming baby was now adding to his panic, why couldn’t she make it shut up?  He wanted to go home, back to his sanctuary.  Why had he come here?  The beer wasn’t worth it!

“I’m sorry ma’am, it’s been declined, do you have another card?”  The cashier asked unsympathetically.  Tears welled up in the mothers eyes.

“Declined?! It can’t be! No, I don’t have another card, what am I gonna do?” The baby, picking up on her mother's emotions began to wail even louder.

“For pete’s sake lady!”  Lucas began to yell  “Hurry UP! And for the love of all that is holy, make that thing shut up!!”  The store went silent.  The baby stopped crying, the mother, and the unsympathetic cashier both stared at him in complete disbelief.

Lucas left his beer on the counter, and scurried out of the store.  He sat in his car trying to compose himself.  What had just happened?  He stared out his windshield, but saw nothing.  The tap on his window made him jump so high he hit his head on the roof of his tiny little jet black sports car.  He looked to see a strange woman, standing there impatiently.  Tentatively he got out of his car, and stood staring at her.

“I know you!  You’re the luckiest man in the world!” She said with a slight southern accent.  “Apparently the worlds biggest jerk too.  What is wrong with you?  I know you got plenty o’ money, why didn’t you help that young woman instead o’ yellin’ at her?  He felt something strange inside, guilt, shame?  What was wrong with him, why hadn’t that thought ever crossed his mind?  Again, he said nothing, but just stared at the woman.  There was an odd, silent understanding that passed between them.

Something caught his eye, he turned to see the mother walking back to her car with just the baby.  They were both crying now.  He turned back to the woman who had tapped on his window.  She gave him a look that said everything, and silently turned and walked away.

Lucas sighed.  He fished the $100 bill out of his pocket, and the winning ticket from his wallet.  He walked over and handed both to the crying mother.  “Thank you.” was all he said before he got back in car.  Leaving the tearful mother frozen in place, gaping at her hand.

When he got home Sunset squawked a greeting, Lucas smiled at the bird, but immediately grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket, and slowly dialed the number for his sisters dorm room.  She picked up in one ring.  

“Hi” she said softly.

“Sis.  I’m ready to come back now, will you help me?”  The gruff catch in his voice told her he was sincere.

“It would make me the luckiest woman in the world.”