Chapter 1

I sat in my easy chair and watched my wife of six years walk out the door. She was soon to be my ex-wife. I didn't know how I felt about this yet. Not enough time had passed since she informed me of her intention to divorce me. This morning she said she wanted me home by six so we could have a little talk.

I had come in, looked into the kitchen and saw there wasn't any dinner prepared. That gave me an uneasy feeling. What I had now was much worse. At the time--time?--forty-five minutes ago actually, Katy was upstairs and came down when she heard me shut the door.

"Hi, sit in the living room. I have a few things to say. Here's the deal. When we were married, I thought we would have a good life together. The last four years haven't shown me enough to continue being married to you. You're never home and when you are, you're usually too tired to take care of me."

I interrupted. "That's true, but someone has to pay the bills. You work, but I don't get any help from you. My money comes from working long hours and most of that is because I'm willing to go out of town for days on end fixing the company's equipment. If you would be willing to contribute, I'll ask my boss to keep me in town. You don't help around the place either. You could at least do the flower beds you demanded to be planted in our backyard. You bitch to me that they need digging in when I have been gone for a week."

"You could hire that done and then we could go dancing once in awhile."

"And what would I be paying them with if I did that? Katy, it will get better. I'm due for a raise in a couple of months and then I can cut back on the out-of-town work."

"I'm not waiting two more months. Jack, I think we had better call it quits. I'm sick of being alone. I want a little excitement in my life. You aren't giving it to me. I'm sorry, but I'm bailing out."

"Are you talking divorce?"

"Yes. Six months from now we will both be free."

"Who is paying for this?"

"I'll pay the court costs. That's fair."

"Okay, do it then."

Katy Driscoll put on her coat and walked toward the door. She paused as if to say something, but didn't. I sat there in the chair and watched her walk away. She was pretty and she knew it. Self-centered--absolutely. Demanding--that too. Would I miss her--sure, for awhile. She was something to come home to and someone I thought I loved. Now, I don't know. Guess I would go out to eat. I didn't even look in the refrigerator. As I was getting into my car, I thought back over our conversation. Not once had the word "love" ever crossed our lips--hers or mine. That was sad!

I walked into Henry's. It had been a couple of weeks since I had crossed this threshold. In a way what Katy had proposed hurt, but I knew I would get over it. As I sat at the bar, I remembered I hadn't bought my weekly scratch ticket. I walked down to where Henry cashed out his customers. "Gimme a five dollar one tonight. I'm going to bet it all."

I usually bought five separate one dollar ones. Tonight I was brave. I slipped it into my shirt pocket and watched the television over the bar. An advertisement came on for the state-run lottery and it was up to $79,000. "Hey Henry, give me a ticket for the state lottery. I'll cut down to four dollars next week. Hell, give me one for powerball, too. When's the drawing for that one?"

"Saturday, you cheap bastard. You could afford a ticket each week. You and your scratch tickets. You'll never get rich buying them. You gotta go for the big money. You got numbers you want to play on the lottery or go for the random pick?"

"Let the machine do it. Hell, machines are getting smarter than me anyway. I bet they get as much loving as I do too." I grabbed a handful of peanuts and asked the waitress to move my beer to a booth for me. Stupid rule. A patron couldn't carry a beer across the room.

Larry and Mary Clark came in and came over to sit with me. I drank another beer and was hungry by this time. I had purposely kept my mind off of Katy. I hit a Big Beef house and ordered the smallest steak on the menu. Beer with that as well. Finishing the meal, I decided I didn't need dessert, so had one more beer. This was decidedly over my limit, and I knew I had to be careful on the way home.

Home? That's a hoot! It's only an empty house unless Katy had changed her mind. Umm, she hadn't said when she was leaving. Maybe she had already left. She certainly had walked out the door as if she wasn't returning. Probably over to her sister's, Patty was all right. She never would have treated me as Katy had. Oh well, screw the whole family. I was getting maudlin. Guess I had better head for home and bed.

I didn't stop except to pee and went in and started undressing. I had put the two lottery tickets into my wallet. I shucked my shirt and felt the scratch ticket. I sat on the edge of the bed and scratched the emblems. I matched three of the cows, no pigs nor hens. Wow $10,000. I scratched one more and another cow appeared. I was up to $15,000. I was getting excited now. Hell, with shaking fingers I did the last one. Twenty-five thousand freakin' dollars, and I had a year to turn the ticket in and collect.

I started laughing. There Katy Driscoll, pay for a divorce you stupid bitch. I'd be a free man by the time I had to collect on this. Smiling still, I locked the bedroom door and went to bed. If Katy came home, she could sleep in the spare room. That ticket would keep me warm tonight.

No Katy when I got up in the morning. It depressed me some until I remembered the ticket. Maybe I had better make sure it was safe if I wasn't going to cash it in right away. I was due at work by eight, but had been known to be late. I waited for the bank to open and hired a safe-deposit box. I put the ticket in and decided I'd put both lottery tickets in with it. I did write the numbers down and put the scrap of paper in my wallet. Who knows?

Was my life going to change? I didn't think it would that much. Not in the short term it wouldn't. I was due to fly out at two in the afternoon. I worked in the office getting ready and went home at noon to shower and shave. Still no Katy. I called Patty Burbank, my sister-in-law. "Seen Katy? She didn't come home last night."

"She's here. Talk to her and tell her how stupid she is."

"What do you want, Jack? I told you we were done."

"You didn't say you were leaving this soon."

"Well I am. In fact I have already left."

"When are you coming to get your things?"

"Tomorrow or this weekend."

"Are you asking for the house in the divorce? There is still a big mortgage on it."

"No, you can have title if you want to pay the mortgage. I will need a list of your assets, just to take to the attorney. I know most of what you have so I know I won't get much. I don't care. I just want away from you and to get on with my life."

"Fix it up and I'll sign the papers. Katy, I think you are making a mistake. We could have worked this out. As I said, I'll be home more in a short while."

"No, I want out. I just fell out of love with you. I want to start over with someone else."

"Have you anyone waiting in the wings?"

"No Jack, I wouldn't do that to you. I can't say there might not be before the divorce is final. Would you at least let me have that and not cause any trouble?"

"Sure Katy, whatever. I can see there is no more life together for us. I guess this is the best way for us to split. Have a good life." I gathered my bag and headed for the airport. This was Friday and I would be gone until next Wednesday. Katy would be in to clean her stuff out of the house. Odd, but I trusted her to take only what she was entitled to. Maybe we couldn't love each other, but we still had a little respect for each other.

I was half-way across the country Saturday morning repairing a commercial copier when I remembered that my state lottery drawing was the night before. Geez, $79,000 would look pretty good in my bank account. I logged in at lunch on my laptop to the state website. Nada, no winners. Maybe Tuesday, but I wasn't where I could buy a ticket. Oh well, it was just a buck.

It took me until six that evening to finish the service on the copier to my satisfaction. I went out to eat and then stopped for a beer in a bar I had been in before when in this town. I was too sleepy to wait for the powerball drawing, so I packed it in and went to bed. Back to the same company in the morning for another machine service. I checked the powerball numbers in the newspaper during lunch. Nothing.

I arrived back home Wednesday morning and checked into the office. I was home for the rest of the week. I wouldn't even have to come into the office tomorrow and Friday either. When I walked into the house, I could see that Katy had taken several things out of the kitchen. The table was gone, but she had left the high stools for the breakfast counter. I'd make out. It just gave me more room to move around in.

There were a couple of envelopes propped on the counter and I sat down to read what was in them.

One contained the divorce papers. The other was a list of everything she had taken from the house. I was surprised and just a little angry when I saw she had taken everything from our bedroom. The king-sized bed, both bureaus and the night stands. She even took the two bedside lights.

I went up and the room was bare. I went down the hall to the guest bedroom and I could see where she had everything organized for me. My clothes were installed in the dresser and my suits were hanging in the closet. There was a note on the night stand.

"Jack, hope this is okay. I have an apartment and didn't want to buy too much for furnishings. You probably will want a smaller bed now that you are alone. To be honest, someday soon I hope to find someone to occupy the bed with me. Someone who will be with me every night. For the last several months, I was getting more lonely every time you went away. I suppose I cheated you in not helping with expenses, but I knew this was coming and I needed the money to start over.

"You could sue me for it, but would it be worth the trouble? You can see that I stopped adding or subtracting to our accounts three days before I talked about leaving. I think this is only fair. If you don't find it so, call and we can discuss it. Patty thinks I'm so stupid to do this, but she is able to crawl into bed with Jim every night and she wakes up with him by her side every morning. We never had that. I'm sure having two kids keeps her settled down as well. I could say I still love you, but I don't know as I do. I'm still fond of you anyway. Katy."

I went back downstairs and looked in the refrigerator. It was devoid of all food and had been cleaned thoroughly. I looked around, and found the house spotless. I read over the divorce papers and they seemed just as she had stated. The suite was in place and to go forward it only needed my signature. I signed and slid it into the stamped envelope she had so thoughtfully provided.

I looked out on the grounds surrounding the house. The lawn needed mowing and clipping. The flower beds needed weeding and the sprinkler needed turning on. Katy had so wanted home to be a showplace, but it always seemed that it was up to me to make it so. Well someday I would rip the beds up and make a lawn out of the space again. I'd get a bigger mower and be done in a half hour. Not today though, maybe tomorrow I'd give it some attention.

I headed out for dinner, lingering over it, just watching the other diners as they talked and ate. I saw one couple arguing and I saw a young man and woman come in who were so in love. There were two sets of parents with kids eating. One of them had brats for kids and the other you could see the kids respected and loved their mother and father. I wondered to myself if Katy and I had started a family what category our kids would fall into.

I headed over to Henry's to have a beer. It was quiet when I arrived. I bought three one dollar scratch tickets and gave him the numbers for the state lottery I had copied from the ticket in the safe-deposit box. I did the same for the powerball ticket. Henry laughed at me. "Suckers born every minute."

"Yes, maybe, but you still sell the tickets." We got to talking and I broke down and shared the new developments in my life. Henry and I went way back to when I was a teenager and he lived next door to my parents. Katy had been in here a few times, but she hadn't warmed to Henry and I stopped asking her to come with me.

"So what are your plans now?"

"I haven't made any. I looked out the window and saw all the work I have to do now to keep the place up. There is the inside housework as well. I may chuck it all and buy me a condo. Of course I owe a lot on the house, so if I sell I won't get much for it. I'd be trading one mortgage for another."

"What you need to do is get someone in to share expenses and help with the housework. Kind of like a roommate or something."

"I don't know. Could I trust a person? Katy wasn't the best sometimes, but I trusted her and knew where I stood with her." I chuckled. "Or did until she threw divorce papers at me. Even now though, I've let her call the shots, knowing she wasn't out to do me any harm."

"You still love her?"

"I guess not. This is pretty inconvenient, that's all." Customers came in and I didn't have a chance to talk to Henry again that evening. I went home and went to bed early. Thursday I did get the lawn mowed, but didn't touch the flower beds. I don't think my neighbors knew Katy had moved out as I talked to several as they walked by and none of us said anything.

Henry laughed at me when I came in, saying, "I suppose you want another powerball ticket. No winners again. The prize is crawling up to where it is some serious money."

"This poor sucker is still with you. Give me the same numbers. Only one scratch ticket, though." I scratched it and it was a winner. Ten dollars and Henry paid me from the till.

"Honestly Jack, are you ahead on your winnings? Knowing you, you have kept track."

"I have Henry, and I am ahead. I'm waiting until Katy and my divorce is settled before I let anyone know how far ahead I am. I think she wouldn't cause any trouble if she found out I was a winner, but I'm not taking a chance." No winners on the state lottery or the powerball Friday and Saturday. I stopped in on Sunday to replace the old with new for Tuesday and Wednesday's drawings. I had to be out of town until Thursday this week, but I was prepared.