Big Win

Big Win

“Omm...Omm...” These were the last words I remember thinking before they faded away into my deep thoughts. “Where did I leave my little black notebook?” Faces and interactions replay in my head. What was I doing? Who was I with? A faint voice asks, “Hey Kate, can you put your stuff down and help me put up these fliers?”

“Sure,” I replied and I put my stuff down on the bench by the water fountain. My eyes snap open and I remember I must have left my stuff at the park. I quickly slide my shoes on and jump in my car, out the driveway, then down Washington, right on Park, Left on Eagle Street. I park my car and head into the park. Linda Chen is still there discussing with some other girls that someone stole her dog. Rhadika says this could be due to having a bad Karma. “What's Karma?” I jump in and ask.

“Karma is what you deserve based on your actions in this life or the last.”

“The last life? How many lives are there?”

“As many as you need.”

“I don't know what that means, but have you guys seen my little black notebook? I left it on the bench over there and now it's gone.”

“No, but I did see some people come in and out of the park: some people on their bikes, Leo (the baker), Peter the bully, Kyle with the cool kicks (he's always buying new sneakers), Amber (she's a health freak), and Linda's brother (he's always reading about technology). What was in that notebook anyway?”

“No need to ask; it's somewhat private.”

As Kate was walking out of the park, she looked once more at the bench and saw some foot prints in the dirt that said Nike, sugar on the side of the bench, and a sim card. These look strange Kate thought; she grabbed the sim card and headed home.

On the way home she saw Leo the baker sweeping outside his shop. She stopped her car and got out. “Hey Leo, some of my friends say they saw you in the park earlier today. I was wondering if you saw any belongings left on a bench?”

“No...no...I was just making donut deliveries and I came straight back here.”

Kate immediately thought of the sugar on the bench, but didn't know how it connected. Kate hopped back in her car and drove back home. When she got in, she went straight to her kitchen and on the internet; Facebook. This is where her family computer was. Maybe somebody knows something. She started clicking through photos and came across Kyle's; he was showing off some new sneakers he bought. In one, he and Rhadika were holding hands. Kate started clicking through more; Kyle posed with his sneakers in the mall, at school, in his bathtub, and while skateboarding. Something caught Kate's eyes though. She clicked back and looked at Kyle's bedroom again and noticed a dog leash hanging on his chair. “Odd, I don't remember Kyle ever talking about having a dog.” Kate looked through the newsfeeds again and saw Peter's post that stated, “You won't believe what I got!”

“Hmmm, I wonder what he's talking about.” She clicked through some more photos. She found Linda's brother's photos and some had been taken at the park that day. In one of them she could still see that her stuff was still on the bench. She made a mental note of the time stamp on the photo. In another one she could see Amber walking with her hands on her stomach looking sick, and in another she could see Linda with her dog and a couple of bicyclists in the background. She analyzed these frozen moments of time.

Kate picked up her phone and decided she would call Amber. Ring...ring...but no answer.

Kate decided next to call up Peter. Ring...ring...ring and Peter answered, “Hello?”

“Hi, Peter? This is Kate from school, I'm also seen a lot with Linda. I think we're also Facebook friends.”

“Oh yeah! Coma.” He calls me Coma because he believes I'm such a boring person.

“I believe you were at the park today and I was wondering if you saw anything suspicious. I'm missing some belongings including a little black notebook. Might have you seen it?”

“Well, the park was pretty busy today. Leo came by with lots of donuts and Amber had way too many. I think she was going to be sick from what I saw.I'm surprised a boring person like yourself was able to make it out to the park today!”

“I hate to be so intrusive, but I noticed you have gotten lots of attention on Facebook recently over your post that you got something. What did you get?”

“Look Coma, its an iPhone. It's one of those new phones they just came out with. You might benefit from buying one; it'll make you less comatose. If you're wondering if I took your stuff and saw it. Negative. Can I go now?” Despite his childlike behavior, he seemed sincere.

The sun was starting to go down and Kate knew she had to start making moves fast. Her mom would not be home for another 2 hours and she would have to set the table for dinner. Kate remembered that she still had the sim card. She was curious to know what was on it. She decided to put it in her phone to figure out whose it could be. She popped it in her phone and went to the pictures section to get a clue on who's phone it was. She clicked through some pictures and found some from the park. Her eyes suddenly widened as she saw photos of Rhadika and Kyle kissing in the background. Not only that, but in the next pictures Kyle seems to be taking off holding some books.

Just then, the phone rings. An unknown number. “Hello?”

“Hey! I caught you. This is my phone.”

“I'm so sorry,” Kate replies, “I was at the park and found this sim card, I had no bad intentions with this...wait...is this Amber?”

“Yeah, who's this?”

“This is Kate, I tried calling you earlier but no response. I just checked to see who the sim card belonged to. But Amber, you have some very important information on this card. We need to enlarge this picture that you have.”

“Please come by to Linda's house, we're here now printing out more fliers.”

“Sure, yeah.”

Kate rushed out of the house and drove a block over to Linda's. After ringing the bell, Linda and Amber brought her into the living room.

“Here's your sim card Amber, sorry about that. I'm just looking for something really important that was stolen from me today.”

“No kidding, my dog was stolen and Amber's phone was taken as well. Someone is out in Quasiville thieving everything.”

“Why do you have so many pictures of Kyle on your phone?” Kate asked.

“Oh, he's my ex-boyfriend and I wanted to get proof that he has been with Rhadika this whole time,” Amber responds indignantly. “You said you wanted to zoom in on a picture, is there any way we can?”

“My brother is familiar with doing things like this. Let me ask him.”

They went to her brother's room and he plugged in the phone to his computer. Once they got the picture up they were able to zoom in and clear the pixel distortion to see that Kyle was indeed walking away with Kate's notebook.

“Oh no!” cried Kate, “We have to call the police.”

“What's in that notebook that's so important?” asked Linda.

“$20,000---I won the lottery last night and the ticket’s in there! I was going to use it to pay my mom’s medical bills, my college tuition, and maybe donate to a children’s hospital too, for bone disease.”

Silence hung in the air. “We have to find him,” said Linda's brother. “I think I've heard that he usually hangs out behind the convenience store on Fridays.” He remembered a Facebook post from someone saying “Meeting up with Kyle at 8pm-making a trade.”

“We need to call the police,” cried Amber.

“No wait, let's call Kyle first.” Linda's brother suggested. Ring...ring....Kyle answers. “Hey Kyle, we were just looking over some photos and we think that you have Kate's notebook and we have some other questions for you as well.” They could hear a female laughing in the background.

“Nope, sorry not me.” And Kyle hangs up.

“We have to catch him in the act,” said Kate. It was a quarter to 8pm.

“Let's head out, if something dangerous happens we will call the police.” The three girls jumped into Linda's car and headed to the convenience store. Once there, they turned their lights off and watched the back parking lot from a distance. Twenty minutes later, Kyle rides by on his bicycle wearing a black leather backpack. Someone from inside the store came out and they shake hands. Kyle removes his backpack from his shoulders and slowly unzips it. The tail wags and the legs kick; he's holding Linda's dog and hands it over to his friend. Linda is furious and in shock to see her dog and jumped out of the car.

“Hey you!” She called out.

Kyle looked startled and so did Kate and Amber who were on the phone with Linda's brother. They hung up immediately when Linda got out the car.

“That's my dog!” Linda yelled. “What else you got in that backpack?”

Kyle cracked a smile and said, “This dog is mine and so is this backpack. If you got a problem with that you can pay me double for what he is paying me for this stuff. And he won't be in town for a long time so it has to happen now.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade.

Just then, headlights shined on Linda and the two guys. Two cop cars pulled up facing the scene. “Hands up!” they called out. Kyle and his friend put the dog down and put their hands up.

“This could have gotten really ugly girls, I'm glad we got here in time,” the officer said.

“How did you know to come?” Amber asked.

“Linda's brother called us saying Linda needed help. We were in the area”

The girls sighed in relief. They looked through Kyle's backpack and found Amber's phone as well as Kate's notebook.

“I'm so happy I found it. I guess he never found the money hidden in the pocket behind the last page.”

“Why would he have wanted to steal the notebook in the first place then?” asked Linda.

Kyle overheard the question while in handcuffs and sheepishly responded, “Because I knew Kate keeps a very organized notebook of Chemistry answers. The underclassmen pay big bucks for that stuff.”

“Well, you missed the real big win in not finding this.” Kate pulled out the lottery ticket which had everyone in awe.

The cops ended up charging Kyle with theft and intention to sell stolen property. He had to do lots of community service and was out on house arrest for 6 months. Linda got her dog back and is attending the University of Massachusetts. Amber got her phone back and now teaches pilates at the local recreation center. We are all still friends. I got to cash in the lottery ticket, help my mom pay for her bills, attend Rutgers for Chemistry, and pay for the bone disease fundraiser event. Now I know what it feels like to get lucky with a big win.