Prologue to the Sequel to Lucky Tickets

Sometimes, in a person's life, an event happens that seems very innocuous at the time, but is destined to have a big impact on his or her life.

One such event in my life happened on a sunny day in August, 1974. I was walking with my friend Jack through a vacant lot at the corner of the street where I lived. I managed to stumble upon a roll of purple tickets with the legend "Lucky Tickets" printed on them. Those tickets turned out to be quite magical.

I soon found out that if I pulled a ticket off the roll and handed it to somebody, I could make a wish of the person receiving the ticket. The wish has to be within the power of that person to grant the wish. That means I can't wish for, say world peace, unless that person is somehow able to achieve it. There were some other limitations with the tickets, but they were still very powerful. Imagine handing a girl a ticket and make her to think that you're the sexiest guy in the world. Suddenly, her whole world image would change. You'd really be the person that she thought she was waiting for her entire life, seemingly of her own volition.

I was almost sixteen years old when I found those tickets, and my life started changing almost immediately. For one thing, as my example in the previous paragraph indicates, I discovered girls. I mean, I really discovered them. Thanks to those tickets, any girl would allow me to explore her body, and would want to make love with me.

I actually did things like that at first. I discovered that I could really mess with people's minds, take something from somebody, and even exact revenge upon people for perceived injustices.

Alas, it turned out that what I had thought was a blessing could turn out to be a curse. After a couple of childish acts of revenge, I found that I started to regret making some of my wishes. I found it very difficult to undo the effects that such wishes created. It also turned out, much to my surprise, that I had a conscience.

As a result, I spent a lot of time trying to make up for stupid and immature mistakes and I eventually decided to tone down my use of the tickets. I promised myself that I would only use them in circumstances that were within a reasonable set of boundaries or in emergencies.

I couldn't bring myself to abandon the tickets, so they were always around and I found myself thinking of them constantly. Of course, that also meant that temptation was always close to me. I am only human, and even with the best of intentions, I find that a teenager is still prone to make mistakes.

This is the second story in the "Lucky Tickets" saga.

Chapter 1 »