Love is the Winner

WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY

WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY

Marissa awakened and looked at the clock next to her bed. It was 3:00 a.m. and she’d been dreaming, not about her father, but about the lottery ticket. She got up and pulled the ticket from her jeans. The ticket was already a week old and she had no idea what game it was for or where to look to see if she’d won. Her father always said she didn’t need to buy one, that he bought the winning ticket, so she didn’t need to waste her money.

There was a phone number on the back of the ticket. She called it, listening first to the spiel about the lottery process, and then to the recording that announced the numbers:

two – twenty-one – eighty-four – five – twenty-six – thirty-five

Marissa wrote the numbers down and hung up the phone. She looked at the ticket in her hand:

2 – 21 – 84 – 5 – 26 – 35

She began to shake, thought she was hallucinating and then looked at the numbers again. The room was suddenly spinning.

Two – twenty-one – eighty-four – five – twenty-six – thirty-five

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God.”

Marissa called the number again, sure she had written it down wrong. The line was busy. Damn. She kept dialing until it finally rang. Again, she wrote down the numbers just as she had moments before. They were the exact numbers she had first written.

This time she stayed on the phone long enough to hear the winnings – two hundred and forty-eight million dollars.

Two hundred and forty-eight million dollars.

She found the web site for the lottery people, shaking the whole time. Somehow, she found a way to navigate the process and arrived at the site for this game, this winning number and prize amount, and she could see before her own eyes what the phone message had told her.

“Well, Daddy, you did it. You had the winning number after all. Twenty years of buying tickets every week, but this time, you had the BIG winning ticket. Two hundred and forty-eight million dollars. God, how could you do this to me, to him? How could you take him? Why now?” She cried herself to exhaustion.

Marissa curled up in bed with the winning ticket in her hand. She slept for a couple of hours, then called the phone number again and re-checked the web site. It was all real. Two hundred and forty-eight million dollars.

Was the ticket hers? Did it belong to her now? She needed to get legal advice and think about whom best to talk to in her law firm. Working for lawyers often had advantages. She didn’t want to tell anyone until she was sure what she had to do. But she knew she had to keep the ticket safe.

She turned her phones back on and there were messages from her sisters and mother, as well as a couple of friends. This was a good time to phone everyone, a comfort level for them more than for her. It also eased her nerves, gave her time to think. She felt like a deer caught in headlights and didn’t like the feeling.

Then she phoned the Lottery Commission in Sacramento, wanting to know how long someone had before they must claim the prize or it would be lost. She also wanted to know if the law required the winner be identified in the press, how the money was paid out, and whether someone’s attorney could handle everything.

Marissa thought about who would be the most private and respect her wishes for secrecy, but also who would have the most knowledge about the legal process. The lawyer she had the most respect for personally and professionally was Rob Gates. She knew he would be the one to help her, give her sound advice, and speak for her if need be. She put in a call to him and he answered on the second ring.

“Marissa, I’m so glad to hear from you. We are all so sorry about your loss. How are you doing?”

“Thanks, Rob, I’m doing better. It’s been a crazy time and the days have rolled into each other. It’s hard to believe my dad is not going to walk through the door tonight.”

“I know, I felt the same way when my father died. It’s like a bad dream you’ll wake up from eventually. How is your family?”

“They’re about the same as me. My mother and father were divorced for years, so it’s not as if there wasn’t separation, know what I mean? But it’s still hard.”

“Well, don’t come back to work until you feel like you can really handle it. Don’t let anyone else tell you what’s good for you now, okay?”

“Thanks, Rob. Yes, I know what you mean. Well, I need to talk to you about something that will establish a lawyer/client relationship between us. Is that something you are willing to do?”

“Absolutely. For you? Of course. What’s going on?”

“My dad bought a lottery ticket, several actually, every week. He always joked that he would buy the winning ticket one day and give us a gigantic inheritance. He played our birthday numbers. I finally got to his apartment yesterday to pick up his personal papers. There was a lottery ticket in his wallet and it’s the winning ticket for the two hundred forty-eight million dollar prize from last week.”

“Oh, Marissa, oh, my gosh. Wow. I know you’re sure; you would have made sure before you phoned me. Did you tell anyone else yet?”

“No. No one. I’m afraid to leave my apartment with it. So let me spell out for you what I need to be clear about. My parents were divorced for twenty years, but we all were family. There was never any separation at holidays or birthdays. My two sisters were not his children, were born from my mother’s first marriage. But they lived as his children from the time they were nine and eleven years old. He treated them the same as he treated me. They did the same with him even though their natural father is alive.”

“So, in essence, you are really his only heir legally?”

“Yes, Rob, and that’s why I don’t know what to do now. One sister will create more drama than you can imagine. I have no intention of leaving them out of sharing the pot, okay? So don’t misunderstand me. In the light of day, my concern is handling things in the manner I need to legally, without others telling me what to do, how to do it, etc. Get my point? They will try to run everything and I have to be sure that does not happen. That’s why I need you. What do I do next?”

Rob thought for a minute. “I understand. Well, I actually think it’s much more cut and dried than you think. In essence, you are the only heir because of the blood line. The children born to your mother do not qualify, which means their children do not qualify. You are not married and do not have any children, therefore, the blood line ends with you. So what we need to do immediately is set up a process whereby you get the money and you do whatever you want to with the money. That you wish to share with them is fabulous.”

Rob added, “I also think it would be best to clearly decide how you want to distribute the money before you tell anyone that you have it. I need to check with the Lottery Commission and find out the rules of the road with them.”

“I did that already,” Marissa replied. “I knew that would be important in order for us to go forward. We cannot avoid the press revealing my name as the winner although I can decline the press conference and the ‘rah rah’ of handing me the big paper check with my name on it. The payout will probably be about one hundred sixty million. I am not going to leave the money with them for twenty years, that’s for sure.”

“Okay, why don’t we meet and talk. How about dinner? All you have to work out now is who you will give money to and how much. Where would you like to eat? Oh, and get to a bank immediately to put that ticket in a safe deposit box.”

“Yes, I thought that should be my next move,” Marissa added. “I called my bank and they have boxes available. I can meet you any time you say. I’ll go to the bank now. How about sushi?”

“Sounds good. The Hibani Café? At five?”

“Thanks, Rob. See you there.”

“See you. Take care, Marissa. And I’m really happy for you. I won’t tell Human Resources yet that you’re leaving.” He laughed.

“Ha ha, very funny. Well, I’m not sure I am. That’s even funnier.”

Marissa went to her bank and got a safe deposit box. She’d put the ticket in a plain white envelope and it looked so lonely in the box by itself. But now she could take a deep breath. The ticket was safe.

She stopped at an office supply and got the form for a general power of attorney, wrote it to Rob, then had it notarized. When they met, she showed him the key to the box and gave him the power of attorney.

They ordered dinner and a bottle of Saki. What the heck, right? Might as well enjoy the entire process before even getting the money.

They talked about how her dad had bought those tickets for years, keeping track of everyone’s birthdays, switching off in a pattern that only he understood.

She asked Rob if the person with the birthday numbers on this winning ticket would be able to show a claim greater than Marissa’s. He said that would not be possible. She knew her sisters would be trying to figure out the combinations of the winning numbers.

There were only two people who knew the winning numbers, and one was dead. Marissa knew who the numbers belonged to. What she had never known was that her father played those numbers as well as all the other birthday numbers. She did not tell Rob what was on her mind.

They discussed the reality of “after taxes,” and Rob suggested the first thing would be to set up a process by which she would give everyone money. She decided it would be best to just do it through her bank in the form of certified checks to each one. There was no need for her to be involved in the dynamics of those on the receiving end. She didn’t care what they did with the money and didn’t want to be part of the drama.

Her decision was to give her mother a million dollars and each of her sisters two million dollars, the difference because of their ages. Each of her nieces and nephews, all seven of them, would receive three million dollars. Marissa would tell them that the extra million was for their education, but that would be up to them.

Rob suggested the best thing to do would be to have the bank issue the checks to the recipients, in their names, and just hand the checks over to the named persons at the time they got together.

They had dinner and Saki, and Marissa knew she could not handle much more emotionally that day. Her eyes burned from crying so much and her contact lenses were screaming for help. They talked a bit more in general, and Rob said he would contact the Lottery Commission to arrange for Marissa to go in with the winning ticket within a couple of days.

She was comfortable with Rob handling things and laughed when he offered to pay for dinner, refusing his gesture. Rarely was she in a position to pay for a partner’s dinner, so he’d best enjoy this opportunity.

Marissa drove home and was relieved that she had taken the lottery ticket to the bank. It was scary to worry about a piece of paper that has so much value. Her dad’s wallet was sitting on top of the desk where she’d put his other papers. She touched it again, realizing how worn the leather was.

Then she touched the gold locket around her neck. No one ever asked her what was in the locket. Funny. Her sisters and mother were always so nosy about such things, too. Marissa touched it every day. She knew what the picture was inside the locket. Her father had known as well, but they had not spoken about it for years. There was little they didn’t talk about. Perhaps this was the only thing.

Tomorrow Rob would make arrangements for her to get the money in exchange for the ticket. That meant a trip to the bank again. Maybe she should hire a security escort. Hadn’t thought about that before, but she would discuss it with Rob in the morning.

She fell across her bed and was asleep within a few minutes, in her clothes, on top of the bedspread. The adventure was just beginning and her last vision was of her father’s face with a big smile. Knowing that he was happy and enjoying this made her smile, too.

Tomorrow would be a big day for Marissa and her family. Nothing would ever be the same again. She only hoped it would never be worse.

“Daddy? Daddy, can you hear me? It’s Marissa. You won, Daddy. You won.”