Amanda’s Turn
I thought Jack was kidding when he told me the news. But when he pulled the kids out of school, I knew he was serious. He sat them both down to tell them the same thing he had told me. That he had won the lottery.
“Not the big, big money,” he explained. “Five out of six on the Scratchers.”
I was stunned. Jack hadn’t gone into the specifics. Our younger daughter, Beth, clapped her hands and paraded around the room. Our elder daughter, Toni, asked the obvious question.
“How much?”
Jack answered, “The amount isn’t important.”
We looked at him, dumbfounded.
“Well, put it this way. Not enough for me to quit the firm.” He added this with a wink. “But guess who’s going to get her own car on her sixteenth birthday?”
Toni leaped up and hugged him with all her strength. I was happy for her but angry with Jack. Money did not give him the right to make unilateral decisions.
“What about me?” Beth asked.
Jack broke from Toni’s grip. Again out came the wink. “Well, we might splurge on something special for you.”
“Like?”
I said, “No need to go into details right now.” I realized my voice was harsh and softened my tone. “1 need to talk to your father, girls. Right now and alone.”
After they had left, he was peeved. “Look, I realize I should have discussed it with you first. But did you have to cut me off in my moment of glory?”
I said, “How much?”
He was clearly irritated. “Two mil.”
I gasped. Then I did the mental math. Two million amortized over twenty years came out to about one hundred thousand a year. After deducting for taxes, we now had an additional seventy thousand dollars of disposable income.
Yes, we could easily afford a car for Toni. And a new stereo for Beth. And that small speedboat that Jack had been eyeing. And what about redoing the kitchen?
I broke out into laughter. I gave my husband a bear hug.
On weekends the mall was always crowded. But ritual was ritual, and every Saturday my mother, my daughters, and I trekked through the ganglia of stores and tried to bond. Sometimes these excursions were pleasant. Sometimes they were exhausting. Since winning the lottery, those days had become tedious.
Beth was nagging me. “Why can’t I have the dress? We can afford it.”
I counted to ten so I wouldn’t lose my temper.
That seemingly innocuous phrase.
We can afford it.
And then I launched into my standard explanation. “Just because we can afford something doesn’t mean I’m obligated to buy it.”
Beth was now sulking. My mother tried to comfort her, which made me angrier. I tried to contain my ire and be rational. “I bought you clothes a few weeks ago, Beth.”
“But they didn’t have the white dress in my size, Mom. You said you’d buy it for me.”
“I said you could wait and I’d buy it when it arrived in your size. Or, I said, you could have the plaid dress. You chose the plaid dress. End of story!”
Beth muttered to herself.
I tried to be motherly. “Honey, yesterday I saw a gorgeous suit. It was beautiful and it fit me perfectly. But I didn’t buy it. You know why?”
“Here comes the lecture,” Beth said. “Because it’s not healthy to have everything you want.”
Of course, that shut me up.
“Where’s Toni?” my mother asked.
“She went into her favorite store. She’s looking at some pants.”
“You bought Toni pants last week,” Beth said. “Why does she get pants this week and last week?”
“I bought her a pair of jeans. Today she’s looking at dress pants. Beth, it doesn’t matter what Toni has or what Toni does. We’re not dealing with Toni now, we’re dealing with you. You made your choice, and that’s it!”
“You’re not being-”
“I don’t want to hear this!”
With that, Beth stomped away.
“Where are you going?” I shouted at her.
“I’ll be at Body Beautiful… looking at stuff I can’t buy!”
At least she hadn’t added “because my mom isn’t fair.”
My mother tried to he helpful. “They’ll get over it. Things’ll be back to normal. Once they’ve… adjusted.”
I turned to my mother, smiling sadly. “Know what, Ma? Every day I thank God that we didn’t hit the big one.”
She laughed, then frowned. Instantly, I spotted the reason behind her wariness. Toni had returned, carrying three separate parcels. She gave me a cat-in-the-canary-cage smile.
Wryly, I said, “That must be one large pair of pants.”
She showed me what she had bought. I told her she’d have to return everything but the pants. She told me I didn’t understand. I said that might be, but she’d still have to take back her purchases.
And then the famous retort.
“We have the money, don’t we?”
At that point I gave my mother the car keys and elected to walk home.
Toni’s Turn
When I was called out of class that Thursday, 1 thought maybe someone had died. Why else would Mom let me miss school? She was uptight about those types of things. But nothing could have prepared me for the news to come.
“We won what?” shrieked Beth, my younger sister.
“Whoa,” I muttered under my breath.
The lottery.
Of course, my parents wouldn’t tell us the specifics, like how much we had actually won. But I was promised a car, so I wasn’t about to stage a protest.
So we had finally come into some money. Not like we were hurting financially, but I knew the money would help us out. Mom was always nervous when it came to money, and I thought the extra cash might put her more at ease. And if she was more relaxed, she’d be more inclined to buy her lovely elder daughter more wonderful tokens of affection.
Yes, this new lifestyle was fine by me.
Later that day I overheard Mom talking to Grandma about the whole thing on the phone.
“Yes, Ma, the lottery. One of those Scratcher tickets… No, not all six numbers… I know-amazing, isn’t it? Jack has always had good luck, but still, the odds of winning are so low. But you know what’s strange? I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m thrilled. Who wouldn’t be thrilled about winning two million dollars…”
So that’s how much we had won!
Mom continued, “But I’m kind of worried this will go to everyone’s head. Jack has already promised Toni a car, and Beth thinks we’re millionaires now… I know, I know. I just don’t want to spoil them.”
She didn’t want to spoil us? Didn’t want the money to go to our heads? Who cares if it does when it means we can live more comfortably?
But I knew how to plan my course of action. Not to complain, not to ask for a lot. I’d have to work my way up slowly and be excessively grateful. I would show Mom that I was not taking the money for granted. And then she’d realize that the money wasn’t spoiling us. And she could buy us what we wanted with a clear conscience.
I started my plan Saturday at the mall. At first everything went as planned. With much restraint, I picked out only one pair of pants. One. And they weren’t even expensive. Mom seemed pleased.
Good.
A couple of weeks after we had won the money, I was still sticking to my plan.
Beth was a different story. She went psycho when Mom told her no, she couldn’t have another pair of shoes and two dresses.
“But, Mom,” she complained, “it’s not fair. I’ve wanted these dresses for such a long time. Lisa’s mother bought her four outfits last week, and her father didn’t even win the lottery.”
Grandma tried to cover a smile. I knew my actions would look even better next to Beth’s greedy fits.
I separated from everyone to go into one of my favorite stores.
Big mistake number one. Mom had given me her credit card to buy some dress pants.