Lottery by Patricia Wood

Author:Patricia Wood
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Young Adult, Fiction.Contemporary, Modern, fiction
ISBN: 9780399154492
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2007-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

27

LOTTERY WINNER ASSAULTED AT MARINA HANDY MART WHERE TICKET WAS PURCHASED

That was the headline in the paper. The next part made me really upset.

RETARDED MAN ATTACKED BY THUGS: THREE ARRESTED

“I am not retarded,” I tell Keith. “I am not retarded. My number is 76. They lied. Can I sue?”

“Why do you want to do that?” Keith is dense sometimes.

“They lied. It’s a mistake. I’m not retarded, I’m slow.” I am embarrassed. I hope Cherry does not see the paper. Gary listens to us talk from the back office. The door is open.

“If people sue other people each time somebody lies or makes a mistake we won’t get any work done at all. You want to call the paper? Make them print a retraction? You can do that, but it’ll just make a mountain out of a molehill,” Gary says, and sniffs his nose bottle. He is practical. That means he thinks other people should not get upset. I bet he wouldn’t be so practical if he was the one called retarded.

Whenever Gary says one thing, Keith does just the opposite.

“I think Per has a point. Hey, Per, gimme that article! What’s the phone number of the paper anyway?” Keith grabs the newspaper from my hand and walks over to the phone.

He must know how I feel. He is my friend.

“I’d like to talk to the reporter who wrote the piece on the lottery winner.” Keith uses his good voice first. He is on hold so long I have to help Manny restock the shelves. I can only use my good arm. My other one is in a sling and hurts. I take my pills only at night to help me sleep. If I take them during the day, it makes me even slower. They are almost gone because I am sharing them with Keith.

“Yeah. This is a friend of Perry Crandall and, yeah, I’ll hold.” Keith has to lean on the counter and all the customers have to go around him. Gary comes out from the back office to ring up.

“Keith, we need that phone. Don’t tie it up,” Gary warns.

“No I don’t want to e-mail! I have been on hold for thirty fucking minutes!” Keith can sound like he is yelling even though he talks normal.

“Watch your language, Keith!” Gary is waiting on Toby, who is a fisherman. I laugh because Toby swears far worse than Keith.

Keith ignores them. “Who do I need to talk to? Well, put her on!”

When it was time for me to get the sandwiches for lunch, Manny came with me because I could not carry them with only one good arm.

I buy everybody lunch on the days I work. It is so cool. I mean when a person can buy lunch for everybody, every day, it makes that person feel rich inside no matter how much money they have. That’s why I like to do it. It makes me feel rich.

“How you feeling, Perry?” Cherry talks to me while Manny picks up beer and soft drinks.

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