You Lucky Dog!

• Janelle Carini, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2009

“What’s that T.V show called?” Dr Fullstop asked cunning to know.
“That of course, is the Tattslotto dear” Mrs Fullstop replied watching a yellow ball roll down a tube. “It’s all about winning money. You buy tickets which have numbers on them and if your number matches the number on the Tattslotto program, you win a certain amount of money.”
“Well that’s a bit silly” Dr Fullstop replied, “That’s like a one in a million chance your tickets going to have the right number.”
“I wish I could win a million dollars,” Jack thought, “But what would I do with the money anyway. Sure I could give to the poor people but seriously, a dog is the last thing that would win money. Oh well, enough dreaming. It’s time for my daily walk.”
So Jack got up and snuck outside to go for his walk. While he was walking, he saw a ticket lying on the ground in front of the newsagency. He looked at it and thought,
‘What on earth is the ticket doing here lying on the ground? Someone must’ve dropped it on their way out. It’s a Tattslotto ticket, so I might as well keep it just in case I get lucky.’
By the time Jack got home, the Fullstops left the house and it was almost time for Tattslotto to start.
‘I’m so excited even though I probably won’t win anything but it still sends me shivers down my spine. The ticket seems like it has a pretty lucky number to me,’ Jack said out load since no-one was around.
He would never speak out load because he was always afraid that if the Fullstops knew that he could read, write and talk, they would probably make Jack work all day.
Finally the show started and Jack was on his feet.
‘I need the first number to be seven because that’s the number on my ticket.’
Jack watched the first number roll down and to his amazement, the number was seven! ‘That was just lucky. Probably everyone gets the first number.’
Jack watched another ball roll down and again he got lucky.
‘Are you serious? This was just a ticket found on the ground.’
He watched another ball roll down the tube and the number was sixteen.
‘Crikey. Maybe this is my lucky day. I only need two more numbers to win. Please, thirty-two roll down.’
Jack watched a red ball roll down and it had thirty-two on it in clear black writing.
‘This is too good to be true. If I get the next number, I’ll be rich! I only need one more number.’
So Jack closed his eyes. He then lifted up his first paw and saw a two on the left of the ball. After that, Jack removed his other paw from his face to see that the second digit was four!
‘I can’t believe it, I’ve won!’