**** Chapter Five – The Big Reveal ****

Three half crumpled slips of paper. Two were perfectly worthless as usual and one single unassuming slip that was literally worth a mountain of gold, I was suddenly one of the richest people that I knew.

It took me a good forty-five minutes to process what had just happened to me. This had been one hell of a spring by any person’s accounting, I had just gone from sudden personal and professional disaster to vast wealth. So I just sat there drinking my coffee, smoking cigarettes and staring at that simple little piece of paper.

Then it was time to put all those fanciful plans made while daydreaming to work. David’s guest house was also his “work from home” office and he had a multi-function printer on the desk. I made three copies of the lottery ticket and printed out the numbers page from the lottery website. I put a quick call in to David and asked him to meet me for lunch and no it couldn’t be delayed as it was of vital importance. I secured the actual ticket in my belongings and off I went to meet up with David.

Understandable David was irritated and being called out for a sudden meeting but his attitude took a sudden turn for the better when I slid a copy of the ticket and the website printout across the table to him. Well now this was where things started to get fun for a while. David looked up from the printouts and asked me two questions: “Is this for real?” followed by “What are you going to do?”. I was ready for that, like I said, I was having fun. “David,” I told him “I intend to sign a couple of pieces of paper very soon making me the first client and a silent partner in that wealth management firm you’ve always talked about starting one day.”

It was a joy to watch the realization slowly dawn in my buddy’s eyes, not only was he happy for me but he was happy for himself; basically we had hit the lottery together. Let’s face it, I suddenly needed those services anyway and I could trust David a lot more than some firm I could hire off the street.

I went to the deli counter to order our lunch and give David some time to recover from the shock, hell I was still in shock myself but I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do. I ordered and paid for our usual lunch sandwiches and returned to table joking that David really ought to be buying lunch for his client not vice versa which brought a smile to David’s face. While I was away David had gathered himself enough to call up Traci, his assistant at work and cancel the rest of his day. He had then apparently invited Traci to join us for lunch. Now Traci and I didn’t always get along, she didn’t seem to approve of my freewheeling ways – but she’d also seen how dreadfully serious I became when the chips were down. At the same time I was very aware and respectful of Traci’s efficiency and professionalism; I was also aware that she was a single parent with a dead-beat dad of an ex-husband. Trish and I had even babysat her daughter on occasion so that Traci could have some sort of personal life; not that adding another kid to a house full of them for an afternoon or evening was ever even noticed.

David had a very quick mind and could be a man of action when he wanted to, as Traci sat down and took her first bite of her salad (she always had some sort of fancy salad) he slid the copy of the lottery ticket and winning numbers over to her. As she stared at the print-outs David was busy writing in his checkbook, the next words out of his mouth were a shock even to me.

“This is your signing bonus,” David said as he slid a check to Traci “you report to work at my guest house tomorrow morning at 8am per your usual. Consider your salary doubled and your responsibilities tripled. We can discuss the actual amounts and your percentages later.”

Both Traci and I were gob smacked, the check David had written out was for a cool $25k and that was enough to throw Traci for a loop. For my part I suddenly was going to have Traci in the guest house at 8am in the morning, hell I’d have to set an alarm and get up at a reasonable time once again. I’d have to shower shave and make myself semi-presentable and damnit I’d need to buy some real coffee. Why did it feel like that me, the one with the instant fortune, suddenly had a boss again?

Traci was silent for a good ten minutes before she pulled out her phone and emailed the office that she was working on something with David and would be back a little late from lunch. From that point the two of them took off in deep discussion and I phased out, only half listening to their back and forth as I mentally reviewed my own plans.