We bought two lottery tickets and didn’t scratch them. It was a game. Like: do yours first. No, you, the other said. A game we played by not playing. I’m fine with wasting money on things, I told you, thinking you weren’t. You put up a shrug to cover your laugh and tugged to straighten your top. I’m fine with what you’re fine with, you said. Next, you stepped into my arms. Do you still have the ticket? I do. In my wallet somewhere. Next to somebody’s business card. I feel like I should throw it out, or scratch away its silver. But I feel like either one of those moves would be wrong, a kind of crime against the things that had the chance to happen with us and the things that didn’t.
Hear Scott Garson read his piece.
Scott Garson is the author of Is That You, John Wayne?—a collection of stories. He lives in central Missouri.