A Trite Confession From Mrs. HM

In the midst of my current scratcher losing streak, I wanted to kick myself on Tuesday for being so careless. I had gone to Save A Lot for raisin bread and salsa and the individual potato chips that I can't find elsewhere. Of course I stopped on the way in, to get some scratchers out of their machine.

First of all, there was a woman standing in front of it. Not enough to block me. She was talking to her buddy, who was playing one of those illegal slot machines next to the lottery machine. "Oh, I'm sorry. Let me get out of your way."

"That's okay. I can get to it."

She moved over, and I scanned in my meager winnings. I think I had a $5 winner, and two $3 winners. Anyhoo... the machine was cantankerous about scanning them. I had already pushed the button for one ticket, which was in the tray. I got my other winners to scan, and then pushed the same button again! I only buy crosswords or the three-dollar tickets consecutively, and this machine was not stocked with crosswords. So I was mad at myself for that. I fed in some actual money, to get two of the new Christmas three-dollar tickets. People entering the store were passing by me, getting carts from the cart corral behind me. I made sure not to stick my ample rumpus in their way before bending over to get my tickets.

The ladies continued their conversation as I did my shopping, and one was just leaving as I got in line to pay. Looked like she had bought some scratchers, because she was standing up from the tray when I looked over.

Once outside in T-Hoe, I wrote down my purchase in the checkbook register. Then I wrote initials on the back of my tickets, so I'd know where they came from. Dang it! I only had ONE of those three-dollar Christmas tickets! I guess it had been caught in the machine, having not fallen into the tray when I picked up my other tickets. I know I had used up all the credit I had in the machine, because it showed a zero balance when I picked up my tickets.

Huh. I guess that woman got my other three-dollar ticket. Not that I expected it to be a big winner. They don't win often, and when they do, it's usually just $3 or $6. I couldn't really be mad at that woman, even though she had seen me buying tickets, and had glanced over to the front of the store as I was checking out in the register closest to her.

After all... when I was in 10Box last week, two crosswords fell down into the tray as I was picking up my tickets. So there were four crosswords, when I had only bought two. I took them!!! There was nobody at the lottery machines. Nobody coming or going from the time I had entered the store. So nobody to return them to. I've tried to tell the cashiers when I've found a ticket there before, but they said there was nothing they could do. Other times, I've just left them. But these were CROSSWORDS! I took them. Both were losers.

I'd think this was the reason for my losing streak, but it was well underway before that incident.