scratch-it aholics

miss rabbit introduced scratch-its to me a week ago. and boy, did i take to it.

first we had decided to go grocery shopping at albertsons and get a movie from the redbox. afterwards, miss rabbit had the grand idea to get some scratch-its. we waited at the counter, and as we waited an old black man hobbled up behind me and used the lottery scanner to check his tickets.

the first one beeped. $1! it shouted.

yeah. he grunted.

the second one beeped. $15! it shouted.

yeah. he grunted.

awesome. i added.

holla. he replied.

i had to grin. this old black man with a rakish beret just said holla. it was priceless.

andy beardard, our favorite lottery man helped us get our tickets. we had gone back and forth getting tickets for a half an hour. i only spent $7.50 mother! the first one i got was an egyptian one. nothing happened. the second two were small one dollar ones. again, nothing. meanwhile miss rabbit was raking in the cash. dollar by dollar.

we had also attracted an audience. one young boy had followed us to our bench and plopped right down. eating his reeses pieces from the candy dispenser he asked,

whatcha doin?

gambling, i replied.

oh. he said.

unfortunately for the fifteen minutes following, i think we corrupted his young and impressionable mind. i have a nasty feeling he's going to grow up to be addicted to scratch-its. shoot. i failed to do my civic duty.

finally, after both of us were having a losing streak, we decided to go to seven eleven instead. maybe we'd have better luck.

we walked down from our dorm with baggy sweatpants and our hoods up. we fit right in.

we opened the door and entered and headed straight for the scratch it case. my eyes were drawn toward a one dollar ticket that was called "wild cherry." both of us had previously decided that we were only going to invest one more dollar in this business.

i chose the wild cherry, and so did miss rabbit. outside we sat down on the curb and searched for a dime to scratch with. instead i found a rock.

she scratched.

i scratched.

and unveiled three thirty dollar signs! i shouted in glee! i had just won thirty dollars! i was ecstatic. miss rabbit was bitter. and jealous. i laughed.

and ignored the guys laughing and pointing at us from their running car.

and that was the start of the addiction. just kidding.