Lottery Read Online Free Page A

tickets. That is so cool.
    We have another game we play. It is lottery list. The What would be the first thing you’d buy if you won the lottery ? game. We play with Keith.
    “A new TV!” That would be me.
    “Hawaii!” That would be Gram.
    “Cable!” That would be me too. I really like Animal Planet.
    “A dishwasher.” That would be Gram. I do not understand this because I am the one who washes all the dishes.
    “Fix up Diamond Girl. ” That would be Keith. Diamond Girl is his sailboat.
    “A year’s supply of tequila.” That would be Keith again. I am surprised he does not say beer too, or maybe Mexican babes. He talks about Mexican babes all the time. They are close to Texas in Mexico. That is a country.
    “Fix Yo’s heater.” That is Gram. She is always cold. Yo is Keith’s truck.
    “Go to Hershey’s chocolate factory and see how Kisses are made.” That is me.
    The end of the game is when one person can’t think of anything else they would buy. It is always Gram. She says she is fortunate.
    “I’m fortunate I own my own house, damned fortunate I have you to help with expenses, and goddamned fortunate your grandpa worked his ass off then had the courtesy to drop dead without lingering. ” Lingering is a word that means costing a lot of money to die. She says she hopes she does not linger. She is damned fortunate and I am lucky.
    Gram says we make a good pair.

4
    Fall is my favorite time of year, Reader’s Digest is my favorite book, and my favorite candies are Hershey’s Kisses. I like to wear flannel jackets, I bounce when I’m happy, and my bike is blue with red spray paint.
    “Hey, Gram!” I yelled when I found it lying in our side yard all splattered. It looked like it was bleeding. “What happened to my bike?”
    “Some asshole decided to be a moron, that’s what,” Gram said. After that, she made me lock it up in our garage every night.
    I like to ride my bike to work so I can pretend I am flying or sailing. Keith and I earn extra cash by working on other people’s boats. Boats are my favorite thing besides riding my bike. Sailboats run on water and wind.
    “Sailing and riding a bike are like flying because of air and physics, ” Gramp told me. He taught me how to sail boats, and Keith teaches me how to fix them.
    “Smoother, Perry, you missed a spot.” Keith has to inspect my work. We are sanding teak on a boat that is supported on jacks high in the air. It is hauled out at the boatyard. They call it being on the hard. I think that is funny. On the hard. Keith makes dirty jokes whenever we help put boats back into the water. Keith and I work up on the boat. The foreman carries a clipboard and tells us to hurry.
    “We don’t have all day!” he yells. I think that is funny because we do. We do have all day.
    Keith likes to joke. “Time to get her off, Per. Time to get her off the hard, man. Time to get the jacks off, Per. Get it? Jacks off? Jack off? Time to jack off, Per!”
    I have to make sure anyone does not hear us talk this way. Gram would be mad to hear Keith say J-off. I laugh, but my face still turns red. I do not say J-off. We are supposed to help the workers on the ground put the slings in the correct place for the hoist. The wide bands have to hang by the arrows taped on the hull of the boat.
    “Hey, Buddy!” Keith shouts from the deck. “You got the JACKS OFF yet?” And he smirks at me. Keith calls people he does not know Buddy.
    His bushy gray beard makes it hard to see his mouth, but I know what it looks like. Keith is the biggest man I know. He is tall and husky.
    “I’m a husky guy! Those are muscles, Per! Muscles!” He will point to the gut hanging over his belt. Husky is another name for muscles in your stomach.
    I do not have a gut. I am not husky.
    We painted the bottom of this boat yesterday and have to finish a light sand on its rail today. Light sand means working hard and sweating. The wooden parts of boats need to be sanded and varnished. It is