This was it, the day that he’d win it all. Ross smiled and walked to the mailbox. Within this mailbox would be a check written out to Ross’ name for 8 million dollars that he won from the lottery. Of course taxes were taken off, but the leftover amount of money was still so sizable that anyone could retire off of it. After walking into his house and opening the letter, Ross did a little dance. He nearly screamed like a little girl too.
His first ever lottery ticket and he won! How much more lucky could he get? Oh the things he could get with this money. First, he’d have to put the check in his bank account. With that thought he got into his old jalopy of a car and drove to the bank. The first thing to change would be his car. He had always been eyeing that Porsche 911, so that’s what he would get. What would be next though? Ross realized he was getting ahead of himself and put his mind to one thing at a time.
In the bank, the line was fortunately small and he knew the teller very well. She had at one point been Ross’ girlfriend, after they broke up they slowly reformed their friendship.
Alice noticed the size of the check. “That’s quite a lot, did you get lucky or something?”
Ross grinned a wolfish grin. “Yep.”
She handed him back a deposit slip. “It’ll be a week or two before you can actually use all of the money. Tomorrow you’ll be able to use about $5000 of the money.”
Ross was shocked. “A week or two? Why can’t I use it now?”
She smiled. “It takes a while for big checks like this one to completely transfer over. You’ll be able to use about half of the money in a week though.”
Ross wanted to use the money now. “Oh, OK. Uh, have a good one Alice.”
“Good bye, Ross.”
Ross drove back home in a trance. He won the lottery, but he couldn’t use the money right away. When he made it home, he rested his head against the wheel with his hands still grasping it. Luckiest day of his life and he couldn’t do anything with his luck until next week. “Just my kind of luck.”
College seemed a bit silly now that he had enough money he could retire. Mom and Dad wouldn’t be happy though if he told them he wasn’t going to go to college. A part of him still really wanted to give it a try anyways. Then the thought of being a debt free college student came to mind and he smiled. In one and a half semesters, he’d be graduated from high school and on to college. First, he wanted that car.
Then another dilemma came to Ross’ mind. Who should he tell about the money? His best friends would know. His parents would find out anyways if he went and bought the Porsche. Should something this big be kept secret? Or should he tell those he knew the best? He had an hour to figure out if he should tell his parents or not, because they both would come home at the same time.
He stepped out of his car and went to his room to listen to rock ‘n’ roll and think. When his parents got home, they called him down for dinner. They had picked up pizza on their way home. At dinner, Ross listened to his parents talk and tried to figure out if he should tell them and how.
Dad looked at Ross. “Are you alright, son? You seem a bit lost today.”
Ross blinked. “Oh, yeah sorry. I was just thinking.”
“Did something interesting happen today at school?”
Ross coughed. “Well, actually. Um, not at school, but here. I, um, I won the lottery.”
Silence.
Ross continued. “It was a lot of money. Uh, and I went to the bank today and put it in my account. I, um, I need help with it though.”
Dad smiled. “You certainly are a lucky one aren’t ya? We’ll help you with it. What exactly do you need help with?”
