Stella was trying to make and not wanting to help her make it.
“And what about that dog?”
“Winslow? What about him?”
“Does he get to be outside and play?”
“When I can take him. We go to the park.”
“Wouldn’t you like a fenced-in yard for him?”
“Of course, but…”
“And another bedroom or two so you could move around?”
“Yes, but…”
“And where do you give your money?”
“Tithing, mostly. The rest I live on.”
“Tithing, huh? Isn’t that like ten percent of your income? And didn’t you say something about going back to school to finish a master’s program?”
“Yes…” My suspicious meter was suddenly flailing.
“Here’s a chance to give much more than the ten percent of the pittance you earn here.”
“Of course, but I don’t believe in the lottery. It’s like, like…like ill-gotten gains. Do you know how many families are hurt by gambling?”
As I spoke, Bob yelled in the background, “Whaddayamean it’s too late to place that bet? Do you know who you’re talking to here?”
“Then I’m glad you did win a portion of this money,” Cricket concluded earnestly. “Because you, at least, will handle it properly.”
“I really don’t know what I’d do with a million dollars, Stella. You’re sure I can’t give it back? I wish my grandfather were here….”
“A million dollars?”
Something in Stella’s voice was so odd that I looked up at her. She was staring at me in amazement and the start of a smile played around her lips. “You aren’t going to get a million dollars, Cassia.”
“I’m not?” Good news at last. I wished Cricket would quit smirking at me. She was not helping my mental state.
“Cassia,” Stella said gently, “the jackpot was almost one hundred and eighty-five million dollars. Your share is…” She held up a slip of paper on which she’d done her own math earlier. “This.”
On the paper was written “$20,555,000.00.” Over twenty million dollars.
A rushing filled my ears as blood raced to my head. I reached for the desk just as my kneecaps liquefied.
“You’ll get used to the idea,” Ed assured me as he jumped down from his desk. “But I got used to the idea in a minute or two.” He stabbed his fist into the air. “Vacation time. Look out, fishies! Lake cabin, here I come!” He came to his senses for a moment. “Oh, man, I’d better look at boats right away. Maybe a cabin cruiser.” He darted for his phone.
“Who’d waste money on fishing when you can travel?” Betty said. “I’m going to go around the world. I wonder which direction I should go first—around the equator or over the poles?”
As we were talking, Paranoid Paula sat at her desk writing furiously while the others bounced frenetically from one dream to another.
“What are you doing?” I asked, shakiness in my voice. This was too surreal for me.
“Writing my will.” Paula paused to lick the tip of her pencil and began to write again. “If I’m going to be a multimillionaire, I don’t want that lazy, no-good son-in-law of mine to have a dime. Why, if I were hit by a bus in the parking lot on my way home today, he’d quit his job, put his feet up and never move again except to change the batteries in the remote.”
I felt tremors running through my body, and my hands shook as I put them to my cheeks. My nerve endings were flailing like a downed electrical cable, blue fire shooting from the tips of the exposed wire.
“Well, we aren’t going to get quite as much as we’d all like to think,” Betty announced. “After all, a good share will go to taxes.” Then she brightened. “But I think we can all manage on the few million that are left.”
I didn’t even realize I’d fainted until I woke up with Thelma’s worried face next to mine and my office mates frantically waving pieces of paper near my face to give me more air. Ed unceremoniously helped me to sit up and propped me against the side of Stella’s desk.
“I’ve called someone to take you home,” Stella said briskly. “You need time to think this through. The rest of us have known since Sunday.”
“I fainted, too,” Betty chimed in. “Plop. Just like that. Right on the kitchen table. I barely missed a hot casserole. You’ll snap out of it soon enough. I did.”
“Who did you call?” I asked faintly. I’d never given anyone my sister’s phone number, and Grandma didn’t drive. Even Cricket didn’t know much about me outside of work.
“Randy, that guy you always talk to in the parking lot. He’s going to drive your car home and take a taxi back to work.”
At that moment there was a loud rap on the door, and Bob opened it a crack to let Randy through. The din in the hallway was deafening.
“The media has arrived,” Bob said breathlessly. “Randy, there’s a back door. You’d better use that to get Cassia out of here. Otherwise she’s going to be mobbed.”
Randy nodded briskly. Thrusting his hands under my arms, he hoisted me to my feet. “Come on, Cassia, let’s get you home. And one day we’ll go shopping for a new car for you. I hear you came into enough money to buy it.”
CHAPTER 7
Apparently I fainted again when I saw the people clustered around my car. I didn’t come to until we were nearing my apartment building.
I looked across the car at Randy, who was driving with grim determination on his face. When he heard me stir, he turned toward me.
“Are you okay? You didn’t bump your head or anything, did you?”
I investigated the top of my head for lumps. “No, I don’t think so. I’ve never fainted before,” I admitted, “except the time I had stitches and the injection to kill pain hadn’t started to work yet. I feel really silly.”
“If you were going to faint again, this was as good a time as any. I probably would have fainted, too.”
I studied his profile. “It isn’t true, is it? Any of this, I mean. Did Cricket put you guys up to this? What a joker she is.”
“No joke, Cassia. No prank. You and your office mates won a hundred and eighty-five million dollars. Of course, after taxes, if you all decide to take a lump sum, that will be more like…”
I covered my ears like a small child. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to know.”
The accountant in Randy got the best of him. “You can’t stick your head in the sand like an ostrich. It’s something you’ve got to deal with.”
All the things I’d ever learned about money from Proverbs began to tumble through my head like a bunch of rogue gymnasts.
Riches won’t help on the day of judgment…. Trust in money and down you go! Don’t weary yourself trying to get rich…. The person who wants to get rich quick will only get into trouble….
“Maybe I could give it away.” A flutter of hope rose in me.
Randy swiveled his head to stare at me. “Give it away?”
“I could…” Then I felt as if I’d smacked myself in the face. “But I don’t even know how to do that!”
“You couldn’t