The Ticket

black t shirt

The story I’m about to tell is just a figment of my imagination. Any resemblance to any real people, places or situation is not intended to be coincidental.

He had the mind of a ten year old, but his biological age put him in his mid-forties. In other words, he was retarded. He frequented the bus terminal, just hanging out; sometimes he’d tug at some passenger’s shirt and ask for a coin or two.

Then something happened which caused quite a stir in his barangay (village).

He had purchased a lotto ticket early that day, and then went home to tell everybody who was willing to listen, that he won the lottery. When his family checked out the winning numbers in the morning papers, his ticket tallied. Suddenly, he was transformed from a simpleton into a VIP, at least from the family’s point of view, that is.

His aunt’s family had him confined, er, housed and tightly guarded inside their home for fear he might be kidnapped. I’m sure every single one of them already conjured up in his/her mind the goodies he/she planned to buy with his/her share (but of course) of the money.

Meanwhile, they bathed him, gave him food, made sure he was comfortable, you know…the works.

And so, they raised the money, even borrowed some; some said so they could go to Cebu, others said so they could go to Manila to have the ticket verified and claim the prize money. Oh what a wonderful feeling it must be, to be instant millionaires, never mind that it’s not actually they, who bought and own the ticket.

But then something funny happened on the way to claim the prize money… As it turned out, he bought the numbers that already won, that’s why the ticket showed the same date…maybe he just copied them, who knows what ran through his simple mind as he was about to buy that lotto ticket.

I can only imagine the look on their greedy faces when they learned the awful truth. Of course, he was unceremoniously kicked out of his aunt’s house…and back to being a nobody.

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write by LISA RODRIGUEZ