3 Times 3 Times…

I’m not saying my parents were superstitious, but the one phrase I heard over and over growing up was, “Everything happens in threes.” If someone in the family died, there appeared to be unofficial odds makers taking bets on who the next two relatives would be to expire. It seemed bizarre at the time, but after recent events, I’m not as skeptical as I once was.  

During a random trip to Walmart, I moved a box that a careless shopper had knocked off the shelf. Much to my surprise, under the box was a twenty-dollar bill. I looked up and down the aisle but saw no one. This must be my lucky day, I decided, then scooped up the twenty and shoved it into my pocket. I continued shopping until a sign caught my attention.

LOTTERY TICKETS SOLD HERE!!!

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I never play the lottery. My view is it’s a sucker’s game with ridiculously poor odds but, it’s my lucky day so what the heck. The bored-looking lady at the counter asked what I would like. It may be my lucky day, but I wasn’t about to squander all of my newly found treasure playing the lottery, so I replied, “A one-dollar scratch-off ticket please!” She gave me one of those looks that says, you’re bothering me to ask for one ticket and now I have to make change. She begrudgingly handed me a scratch-off along with my change.

I wasn’t about to let a grumpy store clerk ruin my mood. This ticket had to be a winner because it was my lucky day! The only thing left to do was scratch the card and reveal how many hundreds of thousands I had won. Nothing is ever simple. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few pieces of lint and no coins. Who carries coins anymore? Now, I was angry. Was this just another government conspiracy trying to keep me from my winnings?

As I walked across the parking lot muttering to myself, a cloud moved away, exposing rays of sunshine. A small shiny disk sparkling in the sun caught my attention. I walked closer and, much to my amazement, it was a quarter. The day kept getting better and better. I scooped up the coin and strode the rest of the way to my car like a man on a mission—which, of course, I was.

The car interior was scorching hot and the pleather seats radiated through my clothes. None of that mattered. It was time for the great reveal. My ticket had three rows of four windows totaling twelve. Twelve is a multiple of three. Maybe my parents were on to something after all.

The goal was to uncover the dollar amount hidden behind each window, and hopefully, one window in each row would contain the same dollar amount. If I found a match, I won that amount. It was simple enough, right? Trying to contain my enthusiasm, I rubbed my lucky quarter over window after window, watching as the numbers came into view. $100, $1000, $1and $20 were in the first row. $10, $50, $2, and $1 came up in row two. So far, the only matches were for one dollar. $1, $1000, $5, and $5 lived in the last row. My winnings consisted of one dollar.

I exited my car and proudly stepped to the counter where the lackluster employee stood, and triumphantly handed her my ticket.

“Do you want another ticket, Sir?”

“No, I’ll take the dollar, please.”

She rolled her eyes and with what appeared to be an excessive amount of effort, removed a dollar from her till and handed it to me. So just to review, I found twenty dollars, which I used a dollar of to buy a lottery ticket, found a quarter to scratch off the ticket, and got my dollar back. My parents were right, everything happens in threes.