Lucky Curse(the short story)
“I don’t like my job.”said William, talking to his co-worker Jack, at
their job as car mechanics in the eastside of Vancouver, BC. “Of course you don’t
like it, I mean, the work is hard and the wage is poor, but we need money to
live, so what can we do other than working here?” Jack responded. William
thought for a minute and muttered, “If only I can get millions of dollars in
one day.” “Well, why don’t you try the lottery? It might work. Ha-ha.” “Are you
inferring that I will never need to work again?” inquired William. Jack laughed
and said “I guess that depends on how much you win.” The rain pounded on the
windows of their shop as the two friends continued to repair cars on a dreary
November day.
When William arrived home wet, tired and hungry, he actually thought
about Jack’s lottery joke. “Maybe it’s not so impossible. I guess I should try
buying a lottery ticket, it can help me escape the grumpy boss and tiresome
job.” So the next day, William went to the nearby Kingsgate Mall and bought his
first ever lottery ticket.
After one week, William forgetting that he had bought a lottery ticket,
was reminded when Jack made yet another lottery joke. William then reported,
“Hey Jack, I actually took your advice and bought one last week. Who knows,
maybe I will win two dollars.” Obviously William didn’t think he would win the
lottery.
Later that evening William went on the internet to check the winning numbers.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. He had
just won the jackpot of five millions dollars! He roared in excitement, “I won!
I won the jackpot!” After he had composed himself, he called his friend Jack who
hurried over to his own computer to check if this was indeed the case. “Wow! I can’t believe it. William has actually
won five million dollars! That’s such a enormous amount of money!”, mumbled
Jack to himself. Jack then quickly phoned William and asked him what he planned
do with all that money. “Are you thinking about quitting the job?” questioned
Jack. “Why not? I’ve just won five millions, I don’t need this stupid job
anymore.” replied William.
The next morning was a beautiful sunny day, and William went straight
into the boss’s office to quit his job with great satisfaction and relief. When
he returned home, the first thing he did was to call all his friends and family
members to inform them of his great win. He was so happy that he didn’t realize
the consequences to follow.
Within one year, William had treated his friends and family to several
trips around the world with him, every one partied hard and there was always
plenty of good food and drinks. Comments like “William! You’re the best! These
5 star vocations rock!” could be heard on a regular bases from all his friends
and family. William, however, found himself reaching for a drink more frequently
than ever in the past. He would often order up “Another around of drinks,
please!” He ended up so addicted to alcohol and so satisfied from all the
partying that he lost complete track of his finances. His lavish spending was
so extreme that the five million dollar win dwindled down to nothing in just
over a year. Nevertheless, he was drinking and partying so frequently that he
didn’t even notice that so much money had been spent in such a short period of time.
Upon his return home from his last trip abroad with his friends, he was
faced with a rude and sobering fact: a huge pile of bills were waiting for him.
These bills exceeded the amount of money left in the his bank account and he
had to declare bankruptcy.
He tried to get his friends to help pay some of these bills, but no one would
contribute. “Where is everyone now that I need them?” thought William to
himself. He found himself penniless and friendless. This fact depressed him so
much that he drank even more excessively to the point where he became a full
blown alcoholic. William pulled his curtains shut and turned his lights
off. He resorted to calling
Dial-A-Bottle for his daily alcohol needs. His credit card was now mounting
with debts. His weight was dropping, and his cheerful and happy days had all
but disappeared.
One gloomy February Sunday morning, William’s mother who hadn’t heard
from her son for over 3 months, appeared unexpectedly at his door and knocked.
William opened it wearily and saw his
mother with a smile from ear to ear. She was holding a lottery ticket in her
hand. “William! I bought a lottery ticket, the jackpot is 3 millions dollars!”
“Oh, mother,” William almost vomited when he saw the ticket, “I hope you don’t
win. Winning has cost me everything; my health, my sanity, and my friends. Now
all I have is alcohol.” His mother looked around the house in a very perplexed
manner. She was horrified to see hundreds of empty bottles of alcohol, half
empty containers of take-out food and filth everywhere! She discerned that her
son was in deep trouble just by looking at his situation. “What happened,
dear?” asked his mother. “There’s a drawback to winning the jackpot.” William
replied, “It can be a real curse; it is
not always what it is made it out to be.” His mother then proceeded to rip up
her lottery ticket.
