Instant Winner by Gary Soto

Author:Gary Soto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AudioGO
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

When Jason scampered home and related his uncle’s arrest to his mother, she brought a knuckle to her mouth, let out a little yapping Chihuahua-like bark, and produced a long tear from her right eye. The tear picked up speed as it rolled down her cheek, but dried almost immediately as her mood changed to anger. She grumbled, “I told him to pay those parking tickets, but did he listen? No!” She then turned to the telephone in the hallway: it was still unplugged, as was other phone in the kitchen. Strangers were still calling and seeking handouts from the lottery winner. The rumors would not subside.

“Do you think he tried to call us?”

“Probably,” Jason answered. He realized that his uncle didn’t have his cell phone number—he had checked it several times. Blake had called, and his mother had called, but there was no message from his uncle.

When she plugged in the landline phone, it began to holler. She picked up. “Yes,” she asked cautiously, with both hands around the receiver. With her eyes cast downward, she listened, pulling at a string on her sleeve. Finally, she said, “You’re what?” Her eyes became dark, her brow wiggled. She gasped, and she smiled, and she frowned. “No, really?” His mother pointed a finger at the receiver and mouthed, “It’s your Aunt Marta. She says she’s getting married. Oh, my god!”

To the lottery winner he’d seen on TV, Jason figured. Now he understood why his aunt had come by yesterday—she probably wanted to make the announcement. Jason bit down on his lip to punish himself. And he had thought—they had all thought—that she was there seeking a handout. He bit his lips a second time—how he deserved the pain!

His mother hung up. “She’s getting married. I can’t believe it! She’s…” She used her fingers to count out her sister’s age. “She’s about forty-eight, I think.”

“I saw, Mom,” Jason remarked.

“Saw what?”

“Me and Uncle were waiting at Starbucks and we saw her on television.” He explained that he had seen the million-dollar lottery winner being interviewed by the news reporter Sylvia What’s-Her-Name, and that Aunt Marta was standing by this guy in suspenders.

“I’ll be darned,” his mother chimed. “Life is so weird.”

Jason could see the wheels of his mother’s mind turning as she realized that her half-sister was marrying a millionaire. A smile spread like sunshine across her face. “Oh, my god—a wedding! She clapped her hands against her cheeks. “I can’t believe it, Marta getting married.”

Jason wondered whether this wedding would conflict with basketball practice. What would he say to Coach Bacon?

His mother stood up, flustered. “What am I going to wear?”

“Clothes,” Jason answered truthfully.

His mother shook her head. “Jason, weddings are special! Not any old rag will do.” She clucked at her son and was heading off to her bedroom when the telephone began to ring. She stopped and, soldier-like, did an about-face. She ran to the phone and picked it up. “Marta?”

Right away, Jason could tell that it wasn’t Aunt Marta.

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