Page 129 - Where the Dream Ends ebook
P. 129
The Billion Dollar Lottery
Just then, the door opened and Rita walked in.
“Hi Joey, what are you up to?”
He tried to sound casual, bending to pick the papers off
the floor. “Oh, hi Rita. Nothing much. Just stopped in for a
cup of coffee. Hear you’ve got some exciting news,” he added,
looking at Larry.
Larry glared at Joey. “Rita, would you be very angry with
me if I asked you to go somewhere else for a few minutes. Joey
and I are having some words and I don’t want to drag you into
it.”
Rita looked at the two of them. She held her hands up as
she walked between them. “I just came in to get something to
drink,” she said. “If that’s okay?” She hesitated before advanc-
ing to the refrigerator.
“Yeah, sure,” Larry said, awkwardly.
The old maxim was true. The air was so thick you could
slice it. There was an unbroken silence between them that
gathered in intensity as Rita poured herself a glass of juice.
When she left, the two men retreated into their thoughts.
When they decided to speak, it was together: two people of the
same but different minds, each one floundering in a different
universe of their own design.
“I can’t do it.
“You have to…”
“Give me the ticket,” Larry insisted.
“I don’t know where it is.”
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