Exiting the unemployment office after devoting another bleak morning to the futile effort of finding work, the disheartened man scuffed across the weed-cracked asphalt parking lot. He saw that his shoes begged for a shine, if only he could afford the polish. Then, stepping on a pebble, decided money would be better spent on new heels and half soles. Money he didn’t have.

At the sharp, staccato sound of purposeful footsteps, he looked up, contemplation of his battered shoes forgotten. A woman, long and lovely, with rich, raven-black hair, pranced toward him. She flashed a carefree smile as they passed. His head turned as his eyes were drawn to follow in the wake of the woman’s jaunty passage.

Suddenly, she stopped and twirled about. “Have you purchased a lottery ticket recently?” she asked, with green eyes sparkling like faceted emeralds.

Caught unaware, Mike glanced around to see if she was talking to someone else, but the two were alone. “No,” he replied, shaking his head. “I bought some a few years ago but decided it was a fool’s dream. What chance do I have of picking the right seven numbers to win?”

She tipped her head quizzically, as if it had never occurred to her that picking seven numbers for a winning ticket should be difficult. “Then it’s a good thing I picked the numbers for you,” she said, stepping forward and handing him a lottery ticket. She smiled and waggled her fingers gaily. “Ta-ta.” Then she spun around and strode away.

Stunned, it took a moment before it dawned on Mike to chase after her and give back the ticket. He hurried back into the multi-storied office building, only to find the mysterious woman had disappeared.

Returning outside, he passed a trash receptacle and paused. He considered tossing the ticket away. It was probably expired. After all, who would buy a lottery ticket and then give it away to a stranger? No one he knew, that was for sure.

But curiosity reached out its hand and tapped him on the shoulder. Mike glanced at the ticket and saw it had been issued less than half an hour before. Is it for real? He examined it more closely. It certainly appeared genuine.

Moving away from the garbage can, he turned and stared back through the glass doors of the building. Should he wait for the woman to come out and give the ticket back to her? He could, but there was the possibility she might pass it along to some other unsuspecting soul.

Mike looked at the ticket again. Chances were slim it was worth more than a mere scrape of paper.

And yet ....