-This story is heavy narrative. If you want to skip past some of the set up simply find the ~~~Break~~~ in the story. Also if you don't like foot fetish themes, this might not be for you.
The days were long gone that I could just run around a play. I wanted nothing more than to just take a few days off and relax at home, a cold one in my hand and the game on the TV. All I ever seemed to do now was wake up, get ready for work, work, come home, shovel food in my mouth, and sleep. This was not the life I had imagined when I used to talk about 'living the dream'
Me, in my little one-bedroom apartment in the outskirts of the big city. My faded red SUV parked out on the street...*sigh* This was not how I wanted it to be at all. I was almost in my forties now... and life was already starting to go downhill.
So how did I come to this? Working a landscaping job for rich suburban folks that are too lazy to do their own work. How did a hard working guy with a head on his shoulders and a dream come to this? I wonder this as I put out my cigarette in my near empty coffee cup. Well... how else. Kids.
I was 18 when it happened. My lovely girlfriend Sarah had called me up a month after my birthday with the news to send any collage bound guy strait to the workforce. She was late on her period and then took a test... positive.
Well we tried to figure it out, you know play with the cards we dealt. I mean, I had no idea how to be a dad to a little girl but hey... I had a daughter now so, I had to try. Hell for a few years there it seemed like it might even work out in the end.
You see, Sarah, my lovely wife had been in and out of the court system with her drinking. I thought kids might help her find the mother instinct... She did seem to love our first so much after all, so, forgoing my better judgment, we had another. Now I had two daughters and still had no idea how to be a father. Well soon after that, the camel's back went and broke as they say. Sarah had enough of me and wanted a divorce... I had tried to be a dad, but I always had to work and pay the bills and all...
I take my coffee cup to the sink and wash it out, turning it upside-down in the strainer, I stare out the window... Well... I grab my coat and keys and head for the door... She took the kids and moved away.
I kept in touch where I could, online mostly. Once my two kids got older they sent me email from time to time... I got invited to birthdays and Christmas at my in-laws but... well I must have felt like... like that estranged uncle to my them... My own kids. Well I think it must have been when they were 12 and 14 that my lovely ex wife moved across the country... I have not seen or heard from them very much since... well... until recently I guess.
I walk out to my car, get in, and turn the key. It needs an oil change really. I brush some of the Powerball and scratch tickets away from my seat.... The elder of my two daughters, Heather had sent me an email about a month ago. Even after the long break in communication, it was as friendly as ever. Asking about my wellbeing, if I was dating anyone yet, how was work...you know, the usual. Well seeing as I was boringly healthy, boringly single and work was a boring as ever, it was a very short response.
But as I sit here in traffic I start to think about the next few emails I had gotten... Apparently my Ex-wife had gone off the deep end recently and hidden herself away in a bottle. The girls had both gotten jobs and moved out of her apartment and into their own. My eldest was a hostess at a Hooters and the youngest, Kara, was working at a convenience store. Not high paying jobs but, they were making due.
The latest email was still floating around in my mind, and making my stomach feel empty. Heather informed me that the bills were piling up and she was not sure if she and Kara were going to be able to keep the apartment.
It was making me feel like a lousy parent, both because of the situation the girls were in, and because I could not even send them some money to make ends meet seeing as though I myself was just barely scrapping by...
I pull into the parking lot of my landscaping warehouse, a small thing but, well it was growing slowly. With the hard work me and a few coworkers had been putting in, we have built the business slowly but surely... one of my only accomplishments really. I look down at my clock on the radio. 6:56am...
"Time to roll the dice" I say under my breath... for at least the 1000th time. I pull out my 'Numbers of the Day' ticket and turn up the radio. The morning speaker for the lotto's familiar voice comes crackling out of my speakers.
"-And that will be what I am remembered for on this fine day I am sure...AND we are just about at that time so let's spin spin spin that Barrel of balls!" He says in a far too cheerful voice. I pull my keys from the car and yawn. "Alrighty folks and here they come, remember, todays big draw winner hits it big time. Our modifier this month is a big times three! That means our winner will be cashing in on six-hundred THOUSAND Big ones!" he says
My eyebrows raise slightly. That was something new, they had never done such a massive load of cash before, someone was about to be very happy indeed.
"Alright... our first number is..13..followed by a 7...and another 7....21...and lastly...a 18! You got all that my friends? 13,7,7,21,18! If you have that hot hot ticket, have a drink on me! At Wbzz th-"
My heart had stopped... ... ... 13,7,7,21,18. I stared down at the ticket in my hand. The little red numbers looking so plain in their faded ink. 13,7,7,21,18....I had just won 600,000 dollars.
I think that almost everyone wonders at some point in their life, what they would do if they won a large stack of cash. Some say they would jump for joy, other would hide it until they could turn it in... Me? I got out of my car, and walked right into work. Al, one of the guys I work with is putting a lawnmower into the trailer as I come in. He yells over to me as I drop my coat in the small office.
"Hey bro, got a call for an early job over on the far side of town, we gunna get going here in a minute, big yard, might take all day but the pays gunna be nice." He says with a grin. I don't smile back right away, still thinking hard... my two daughters playing on my mind.
"Sure thing Al, just gimmie a second ok? I have to make a phone call." I say, my mind set.
~~~~~~~~~~Transitional Noises~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~