It all started a little over a month ago when a waitress at a Chinese restaurant handed me a fortune cookie and said, “Good luck.” Little did the poor woman know whom she was talking to.
She was talking to me, Rita West — a walking example of Murphy’s Law (Anything that can go wrong will go wrong). I laughed, then managed a smile and a, “Thank you.” This marked the beginning of my month-long gambling stint.
Walking to the car I cracked open the cookie and peeled out the thin strip of paper. It said, “A cheerful letter or message is on its way to you.” I flipped it over and there were six lottery numbers. I had never bought a lottery ticket before. I was intrigued.
The optimist in me thought that bad luck could only last for so long; therefore, I was determined to turn my luck around. And because basking in the ambiance of a tacky, musky-smelling, brightly-lit casino never appealed to me, I thought the lottery was just my ticket.
Later that day, I walked into a gas station and told the cashier I wanted to buy a lottery ticket, she stared blankly at me and said, “What kind? A Powerball ‘quick pick’?” I stared just as blankly back at her—I did not speak lotto lingo.
I gave her my fortune cookie paper and told her I had no idea what a “quick pick” was but I wanted those numbers. She said, OK, but gave me another blank stare. I guess I wasn’t her typical lottery customer. Maybe I should have thrown in a 40-ounce beer and a pack of cigarettes.
Saturday night rolled around — I won. No, I did not win the multi-million dollar jackpot, but I did win $4. That $4 was all that was needed to fuel my new “addiction.” With that $4 I bought four more tickets and in the meantime went on a luck-finding escapade. I figured if I entered every contest or played every lottery, I was eventually bound to win something — I was wrong.
For a month, I tested my luck through dollar lotteries, sweepstakes and raffle tickets, but all I ever won was that $4. By the end of the month I gave up on winning and thought maybe my bad luck wasn’t so “bad” after all.
I mean, if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.
Just sayin’.
