May, 2000
New England was experiencing "lottery fever." The Tri State Mega- Bucks had grown to thirty million dollars. Some people were spending their last dollar and borrowing more money to buy that winning ticket. In the little village of Safe Harbor, it was the talk of the town. For only one dollar, you could buy the dream...
****
Harry Rodgers hopped into his old Dodge Dakota pickup, drove down the gravel driveway, turned onto the main road and headed into town. Harry and the truck were old buddies. He called it "Dakota" and spoke to it often. "Fifteen years old and you're still running like a fine watch, Dakota. Let's keep going on forever. I'm hungry. It's time to have breakfast with the guys. Life is good."
Life had been good to Harry. He was a top student and athlete in high school and had always been well liked and respected by his peers. After high school he went to work for the St. Regis Paper Company paper mill in Rivertown, as a loading dock helper. In three years, because of his natural leadership abilities, dedication to his job and his bright, quick mind he was promoted to Assistant Loading Dock Supervisor. His department managed the shipping of the mill's paper products by sea, rail, truck and air to points throughout the world. He could sense that further promotions were forthcoming.
During this time Harry's life took a sudden change. He was drafted into the United States Marine Corps. The mill assured him that, after his tour of duty, he could have his job back. He went to boot camp in South Carolina and then was shipped to Camp Pendleton, California, for combat training.
Harry quickly fitted into the scheme of things and became a model Marine. He excelled in marksmanship and was so proficient at this skill that his superiors assigned him to spend a few months as a rifle range instructor before being sent to Korea where the "police action" between United Nations Forces and Communists was in full motion.
Most evenings the young Marines were given shore leave and Harry was usually near the head of the line to take the bus to town. Occasionally he caroused with his buddies at one of the bars in Oceanside, but he most likely went somewhere by himself: a movie, a museum, the library, or a walk on the beach.
It was on one of these solo trips to Oceanside that he met Betty Foster, the evening librarian at the public library. Until now, he had been too shy to speak to her but on this particular night he had a brilliant plan. According to what Betty later told friends, the conversation went something like this:
Harry: "Excuse me, but could you help me find How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie?"
Betty: "What's your name?"
Harry: "Harry."
Betty: "Well, Harry, it is probably exactly where the card file says it is. I put it there less than an hour ago but I feel your request for help is a thinly veiled excuse to start a conversation with me. If that is the case, start talking."
Harry: "You mean right here and now? Right out loud? You want me to say what's on my mind in front of these people?"
Betty: "Well, not too loud. After all, it is a public library. Yes, go on."
Harry: "I have been coming here for weeks and during that time I have observed how you speak to most people and how you are especially helpful to the younger and older patrons....
Betty: "Harry, sum it up!"
Harry: " O.K. I think you are the most beautiful, gorgeous, charming, thoughtful, bright and considerate girl, er, young woman I have ever seen and I would like to have a date with you."
Several of the patrons chuckled and walked away to leave the two by themselves.
Betty: "Well..er....ah...let me think about that."
Business was slow that evening at the library which gave Harry and Betty some time to get acquainted. Soon they were dating.
Betty was not all about books and brains. She was a true California Girl who spent most of her weekends surfboarding on San Clementi Beach. She was up to date on dune buggies, beach music and the latest dance craze. Harry found her vivacious personality attractive and exciting.
Weeks passed and it became time for Harry to go to Korea. On the last night before his departure, he took Betty to a quiet place on the beach. It was early twilight and the sky was filled with the colors of sunset. The sight was spectacular. They sat in silence watching Mother Nature's show. All too soon, the distant horizon turned to dusk and then it was over. Only a pink glow at the point where the sun had disappeared into the ocean remained. Now, only glittering lights from a fishing pier down the beach partially lit their area.
Harry cleared his throat and then took Betty's hand in his and said, "You know, Betty, my hometown in New England is very different from here. It is a quiet world at the end of the line. It is the boondocks. There is not a surfboard or a dune buggy in sight. When I finish my tour with the Marine Corps in about eighteen months I am going back there. For me, it is paradise. I can't imagine living anywhere else. You also must know that I am crazy in love with you. I adore you. You are truly a sweet and thoughtful person. The thought of life without you is very painful to me. I know you love California and your family and friends are here......O.K, you once before asked me to sum it up. I'll do that now. I do not want an answer from you tonight but, if you love me and feel you could live a happy and rewarding life with me on the shores of New England, I would like for you to be my wife. We would marry here when I get back from Korea."
Betty spoke softly, "I love you too, Harry. Give me a little time."
Harry went to Korea where he wrote to Betty regularly. Three months into his tour Betty wrote Harry saying she loved him and she was sure, she was positive that she wanted to share the rest of her life with him. They set the date for the wedding and when Harry returned they were married.******************
Harry and Betty returned to Safe Harbor and for the next forty years they lived an active and fulfilling life. The people in Safe Harbor warmly welcomed Betty and, although her thoughts often drifted back to her friends and family in California, she soon felt at home.
Harry went back to the mill and after fifteen years, when the Loading Dock Supervisor retired, he was promoted to that position. It was an interesting job as Harry was often sent to seaports around the world as a consultant to train warehouse supervisors on paper handling techniques. He remained at this position until he retired from the mill after forty years of service.
They had three children, two girls and a boy. All were active in social and sports activities keeping Harry and Betty very busy. When the children were old enough to enjoy the experience, the Rodgers and several other families would travel to the New Hampshire mountains for skiing expeditions. Betty quickly mastered the sport and in seemingly no time was the best skier in the group. When her friends and the children asked in awe, "How did you learn so fast," she would smile and say, "This ain't nuttin compared to hanging ten under a huge wave on San Clementi Beach." Harry was very proud.
While Betty's parents were alive, she traveled to California almost every year. She would usually go during the heart of winter to enjoy the warm Southern California weather. Sometimes she planned the trip during school Christmas vacation and Harry and the kids would accompany her. After her parents died and her sister moved away from Oceanside, Betty's trips there were much less frequent. In later years, she and Harry preferred to escape to Florida for a few weeks during the winter.
Years went by. The three children graduated from the university and moved out of state to search for jobs. All were doing well.
Betty served as a long term volunteer for the local public library and, for many years, was on the Board of Directors.
Although Harry didn't formally volunteer with any particular group, he once won the village yearly "Good Samaritan" award. It is said that he and Dakota were always available to help anyone in the village who needed a grunt and his pickup truck.
From the time they married Harry and Betty had been diligent about regularly investing part of their money in the stock market. By the time they had reached retirement age, they had accumulated a nice "nest egg."******************
Harry eased old Dakota into the last parking place in front of Carolyn's Restaurant and crossed the icy sidewalk. When he entered the place, he sensed the mouth-watering smell of Carolyn's home type food. As he approached his regular table, Carolyn appeared carrying a pot of coffee and a basket each of hot muffins and homemade biscuits.
"Well, la de da," she said. "The leader of the Rainy Day Patrol has finally arrived."
Harry groaned, "Give me a break, Carolyn, we don't have a fixed schedule around here."
Carolyn laughed. "Just teasing, Harry, but you do have a fixed schedule. When you walk through that door in the morning, I always set my watch to exactly, precisely, eight-fifteen on the dot."
"You've got a sick sense of humor, Carolyn," Harry replied.
Harry sat down, took a hot biscuit from the basket, added a generous pat of butter and dribbled honey over the top, "Gee, let me guess what the topic of conversation is this morning."
Sam Hampton, recently retired as the local postmaster, spoke. "C'mon Harry. There is another drawing at eleven o'clock tonight. Thirty million bucks is a whole lot of money. Have you got something better to talk about?"
Harry thought. "No, I guess not."
"Just for the heck of it Harry, I mean daydreaming and wishful thinking, what would you do if you won all that money?" Sam continued.
Harry chuckled. "Well, I'd probably get Dakota's bad brakes repaired," he said facetiously.
"No, seriously," said Sam.
"Well, all right. The last I heard, the odds of winning the lottery were eighty-one million to one so I truly haven't given much thought about how I would spend the money. If Betty didn't ask me to buy a ticket each week I wouldn't bother. I think it is a waste of money. With the fifty-two dollars we would save each year, I could take her out to a very fancy dinner. And another thing, there isn't much that I need or want. I like my life the way it is."
Sam turned to Charlie Turner. Charlie managed one of the local grocery stores and would be retiring in two years.
"And what about you?"
Charlie smiled. He had already finished his third biscuit and was reaching for his fourth. His well nourished body reflected his appetite. "Well," he began, "I definitely have given some thought to what I would do with that money. I'd take early retirement and then me and Sharon would buy one of those big fancy RV's. You know, the ones that look like a very long Greyhound bus. Then she and I would take off around the country looking for the perfect place to live and we wouldn't be in any hurry to settle down. We'd stop at every good-looking golf course we saw. Wowie! I'd send you guys postcards. Life would be great."
Sam smiled, "You have always had a great attitude about life, Charlie. Whatever you and Sharon decided to do, you would have a good time."
Sam nodded to Clyde Thompson, a retired boatbuilder. "You're last, Clyde. How would winning the big prize change your life?"
Clyde looked serious. He slowly sipped his coffee to stall for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I'd probably do the usual things." he replied. "You know, travel, buy a new car, give some money to my kids, but mainly, I would buy a new home in an open area, build a tall wire fence around it and hire a security company to patrol the area regularly. I would build my little haven within the walls of that fence and I wouldn't leave it very often. I would install a video monitor at the gate and only allow certian people through. Oh, of course you fellows would always be welcome. Then I would put the rest of the money in a safe. No securities for me. You know how risky they are? The fact is, people who are rich are very, very vulnerable."
There was silence around the table as if no one knew what to say. Finally, Clyde broke the silence, "And, I am not the last one to speak, Sam. You're next."
Sam looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected to take his turn. Then, his expression turned to sadness. It was obvious to his friends he would rather not contribute his thoughts. However, he began, "You guys know that Rachel and I don't get along and we haven't for years. She treats me like mud and is now beginning to turn my children against me. Life for me at home is torture. If I win that lottery ticket tomorrow, I'll give half of what I win to Rachel and then I'll disappear. I mean 'puff,' like in a cloud of smoke and I would be gone. I don't know where I would go or what I would do but I would not have to get up in the morning in the same house where Rachel lives. I guess I would try to find a loving woman I could share my life with. You guys who have nice wives don't know how rich you are."
Quietly and thoughtfully, Harry said, "I do."
Then Charlie spoke, "Well, we may know tomorrow if one of us will have our dream come true. I gotta go watch the store, as they say."
On Tuesday, Harry awoke at his usual early hour and started his daily routine. He would bathe, dress, then later have coffee while reading his daily paper, and have breakfast with the guys at Carolyn's. While working through the rest of the day's events, he would be more flexible.
While the coffee was perking, Harry walked to the end of the driveway to get the daily paper. There was just enough light in the sky for to Harry determine it was going to be another cold, cloudy day. "Maybe a few snow flurries," he thought. He liked the New England weather with its four distinct seasons. Betty was not so sure.
He placed his paper and coffee on the large kitchen table and, started going through the sections of the newspaper in his own particular order; How were the Celtics doing? Losing. What happened in the market yesterday? Down slightly. What's funny in the comics? Dennis the Menace, Family Circle, Wizard of Id, and The Lockhorns. He smiled.
When he turned to the front page he noted that someone had won the lottery. He finished the front page. The headlines looked familiar; war, famine, politics, and, as usual, no good news.
Finally, he took the lottery ticket from his billfold, folded it so that just the lottery numbers showed above the crease and eased it up underneath the numbers in the newspaper. Harry's eyes snapped. When they returned to focus he , once again, saw that the numbers on the ticket matched the numbers in the paper.
Harry's face turned red and he could feel his heart pumping. "Whoa, stop, wait a minute, back up. I never expected this! I've gotta have time to think about it. Something doesn't seem right." Harry folded the ticket twice and tucked it into the corner of his billfold. Then, he went into his office/den and took something from the wastepaper basket and put it in his billfold.
When he returned to the kitchen, he again settled at the table and began turning the newspaper from page to page, back and forth. However, his mind was spinning and the words on the paper were just a blur. "What to do? What to do? What to do?"
Betty entered the kitchen, leaned over, gave Harry a hug and kissed him on the top of his head. "Good morning, sweetheart. Is everything all right? You look a little dazed."
"Oh, I feel fine, Betty. Maybe I am getting a touch of a cold."
"What's newsy in the paper this morning?"
"Well, the Celtics lost, the market is stable, Dennis is still in trouble. There is plenty of war, famine and politics to go around and, oh yes, someone won the lottery."
"Oh. really? Does it say who?"
"Well, no one has come forward yet. We'll just have to wait."
"Just for the fun of it, Harry, give me a peek at my losing ticket. This would be no time to make a mistake."
"Sure." Harry felt his stomach tighten. He did not want to deceive Betty. She had always been completely honest with him but he had to stall until he could think about the situation. He reached into his billfold, removed last Friday's lottery ticket that he had retrieved from the office wastebasket, folded it so Betty could just see the numbers above the crease and placed it below the numbers in the newspaper.
"Oh my," she laughed, "not a single number on my ticket matched the winning number. Oh well, better luck next week."
Harry felt very, very unhappy. For him, the winning ticket was already causing serious problems.
By noontime it had been announced that Mason's Convenient Market on Franklin Street had sold the winning ticket and within an hour trucks and crews from three different TV stations were in town.
With their usual aggressive approach to gathering news, the reporters had pushed paying customers away from the counter at Mason's to interview Geraldine Brown, the clerk who had sold the winning ticket. One reporter asked her if she could remember the person who had bought the winning ticket. Geraldine, sensing this would be her once in a lifetime claim to fame, toyed with the reporter. "Well, I almost can," she lied. "If you guys hang around and ask me enough questions, it just might come to mind. By the way, will I be on the evening news?" Of course, this ploy led to the usual frenzy of related and unrelated queries.
One news crew was riding up and down the streets in the village, using a megaphone, pleading for the winner to meet with them for an interview. They promised to make the winner an overnight celebrity.
Harry spent the day with his mind in turmoil. He kept his secret during breakfast with the guys and by late morning was cruising aimlessly with Dakota. Then he had an idea. He took a side road to a shoreside picnic area that he and Betty often visited during the summer months. A snowplow had cleared the parking area allowing visitors a chance to stop and enjoy the extraordinary winter vista. Except for Harry and Dakota, the parking lot was empty. He looked out across the bay to the islands beyond. "This is one reason I love this place so much," he thought. "However, forget the view. Get serious. Reason this thing out. Use logic not subjectivity. I've got to make a decision soon. What is the best decision for Betty and me?"
Harry took a notebook from Dakota's glove compartment and turned to an unused page. With his pencil, he separated the page into three sections. Then he started to scrawl his notes as follows:Why I sould accept the $30,000,000 prize
- More money to give away
- More money for travel
- A winter home down south
- More financial security
Why I should not
- We'll become celebrities (I hate that idea).
- We'll be harassed be people who want our money.
- We'll need more security.
- We'll have a serious lack of privacy.
- Mainly, it would bring changes to our existing lifestyle.
Comments
- We don't need a bigger house. Our house is already too big with the kids gone.
- We don't need additional transportation. Betty always has a late model Buick for her use and I am not giving up Dakota.
- We don't need additional savings if we live a modest lifestyle.
By the time Harry had finished his notes, there were doodles (Harry never doodled), and the word "damn" written all over the page. Many erasures and scratch marks from a broken pencil tip marred the paper. The person who had written the notes must have been a very annoyed and agitated individual. The person who had written the notes did not sleep well that night.
On Wednesday morning, when Harry picked up the paper at the end of the driveway, he immediately addressed the front page. There it was; a headline stating, "LOTTERY WINNER HAS NOT COME FORWARD." The story went on to say that the winner would probably present the ticket that day. Harry cringed. Later, when he read the comics, they didn't seem very funny. For Harry, life was getting very gloomy.
When Betty got up, she lightened his spirits with her usual hug, kiss and smile. She announced that, as planned, she and her friend Virginia were going to Brighton to shop at the mall and would be gone most of the day. They would get breakfast along the way. As she passed through the door to the garage, Harry yelled, "Hey, Betty."
"What?"
"You are absolutely the greatest."
"Oh, thanks Harry. Talk like that will get you everywhere!"
Then she was gone.
Harry turned off the lights in the kitchen and walked to the living room. The early light from the rising sun shone through the large bay window giving the place a warm cozy glow. He eased into his favorite chair and looked around the room. Over the years he and Betty had built a show place. This room in particular brought forth many memories. When the house had last been redesigned, Harry and a stonemason friend had installed a handsome fireplace from field stones that he and Betty had gathered over the years. The wood for the beams in the ceiling had been cut from a stand of pines at the back of his property. Trophies his children had won in high school were on the mantel. Betty's warmth, intelligence and flair for color and design were apparent in the room. Harry and Betty had sat in that room many, many times voicing how fortunate they were to be living such a good life. They enjoyed their friends, their church, their privacy, and most of all, each other.
Suddenly, Harry stood and said out loud to himself, "That's it! I have made my decision."
Without hesitation, he walked back to the kitchen and turned on the light. He removed the lottery ticket from his pocket and unfolded it. Then, he reached down and turned on the front burner of his gas range. A flame popped into being. Harry eased the corner of the lottery ticket toward the fire. The ticket burst into flames. Harry dropped the burning ticket into the sink and left it there until the last smolder had gone. He washed the remains into the disposal and wiped the sink clean. For the first time since Tuesday morning he felt relieved, refreshed, and revived.
It was time to leave for breakfast with his peers. He jumped into Dakota, started him up and put him in gear. It was a time when a guy would want to share the good news with a buddy. "You know, Dakota, I told you Monday morning that 'life is good.' Let's keep it that way."
Then, the two of them rolled happily along the road toward town.
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