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.