What I did with my money should have been my problem, but outside influences always seemed to bombard in. Independency was key. Whatever trouble I should have to face, should be on my own. It was a skill set that extended far above education level, and class line. This was one of the many reasons why I was so mad when I entered the store for the third time. “He” was taking something that was rightfully mine, and could have the potential of a lifetimes work. I peered in before grabbing the metal handle. The darkness outside made it much easier for me to see in…and a lot harder for him to see out. He was reading the numbers in his head. He knew they were the winners of the night. With full force I drove my hand into the door. I could see he already had started cashing out for the night.
“Your back,” he exclaimed.
“My business isn’t done here.”
He could see the evil look in my eyes. I was waiting for his first move. He had the key to open the door to success. The numbers were indisputable. There was no such thing as cheating in the lottery. Once the numbers were scanned, the statistics were final. His muscles tensed. His jaw was locked. I would make the first move.
“This can go a lot easier if you just want to turn the Disney Channel machine back on for me.”
“Like I said sir, we’re getting ready to close for the night.”
“We are getting ready to close for the night? It sure looks like your the only man here if you ask me.”
I made sure to accentuate my words. The realization dawned over the clerk. He knew what he really wanted to do. My back was turned to the man, but I knew he saw my jaw muscles flex into the expression of a slight grin. He started to make his way over in my direction, at least to where I believed I was positioned. For a slight second I directed my eyes to the video camera. The light in the store provided a perfect image back to me on his location. He was as still as the racks holding all the goods in the store. If I did not know any better I might actually have mistook him for one. But I had the upper hand, and he knew he was in the wrong. I kept my cool. The clerk grabbed hold of one of the racks and furiously penetrated it into the tile floor. I stood just as still as he quickly grabbed his things and ran to the back room. I was in here every week, I knew the store just as well as him. I turned in a calmly manner and shouted for him. There was no way out of that back room. He may have believed it was a scapegoat, and a way for me to run out along the backside where he was, just to find it was not an exit. But I knew better now, I knew to stand my grounds. All that could be done was to wait it out. The more time he took…only the more he suffered. I would be successful in getting my ticket because this was the moment of a lifetime I had been waiting for.
I could hear his cries of weakness through the locked door. Empty boxes could also be heard vibrating against one another-this is where he must have been hiding. He was like one of those cardboard boxes… Full of nothing. He was the color scheme of plain brown, he was going no where. Even though it was a lousy ticket I was trying to get to, I realized it had more significance that I thought did. It was paving the way to the success I would soon encounter. My mind had become fogged, but now was gradually clearing. Keeping my fingers crossed may now have had more importance than ever to what I wanted to do. This ticket would now be giving me a second chance, a way to start over, and giving me even more of a drive to move forward.
I shook my head, enough of this emotional business for today. I fixed my attention again towards the door.
One last noise… I could hear the cracks as he too began to cross his fingers.
Words, Words, Words 
