The Scratch Ticket

 $500,000. That's how much Billy Bob won on his scratch ticket.

Who knew? 

Six months ago, on his birthday, after buying hundreds of scratch tickets over the years, he sat down at the Formica top kitchen table with a quarter between his fingers, and scratched. Scratched like he had done so many times before with dwindling belief that he would ever win more than two dollars.

But this time was different. He swept the shavings off the table into his hand and dumped them into the small, plastic trash bin he kept handy, barely looking at the numbers. When he did, he almost shit himself. It only took seconds for the truth to set in and for him to actually believe it.

He was a different man from that day on. His life up until then had been dead end jobs, sometimes two at a time; shitty pay, past due bills, rundown furniture and 15 year old trucks. He was bitter. No one wanted to be around him, including his family. Even he did not like himself. At the age of 57 he felt that things would never change, that he could never win. Since that magical day, he was all smiles all the time.

Slowly, he worked himself back into the good graces of his neighbors. They were wary at first, assuming he had gotten into drugs, assuming he was after something. But eventually they realized he was genuine. They loosened up and just enjoyed his company.

Billy Bob took care of his family. First his daughter, Lucinda, because he knew she would be the tough one. She hated what he had done to her mother, she hated the way he abandoned the family, she hated him. He knew it was justified, so he approached her carefully. A couple of phone calls, a meeting at a local diner, finally wrangling an invitation to her house for dinner. 

Lucinda was studying to be a surgeon and Billy Bob knew she was smothering under a mountain of debt. That night over dinner he handed her a check to cover 50% of her debt. He left her home with a smile on his face and confidence that he would eventually earn her love back.

His son Johnny Joe was next. He had dropped out of high school and gone to work in a machine shop. Worked all day, drank all night and was fairly content doing that. Until Dad showed up. Billy Bob paid off Johnny Joe's truck loan, bought him a condo, and deposited some cash into his bank account. He gave his son some breathing room to stop and think and make better decisions about his future.

Billy Bob often stopped to reflect upon all the good he had done, and was overwhelmed by the sense of pride he felt, amazed that he actually felt good about himself. He could have blown the money on booze, drugs and hookers, which was his natural inclination. Instead he decided to change, and change he did. For the better. Forever.

He was sitting on his screened-in porch on a summer night, sipping Pappy Van Winkle 10 year old bourbon from a Waterford crystal cocktail glass feeling good about himself. He had invested the remainder of his money wisely, and as he thought about the additional good he could do with it, he could not help but smile. 

The cocktail glass shattered as it hit the wide pine porch floor. Billy Bob had a massive, fatal heart attack.

He was 57 years and six months old.