UNEXPECTEDLY

As the first rays of daylight streamed into Jane's bedroom window, the alarm clock's harsh loud sound cut into the silence of her room. Jane hit the snooze button for 15 more minutes of sleep. Again, the alarm goes off and Jane hesitantly leaves the warm safe comfort of her bed and heads to the bathroom.

Automatically, Jane turns on the shower and soon discovers that there isn't any hot water only frigid water flowing from the showerhead. Instinctively, Jane realizes that she has no time to waste and must get ready for her part-time job as a housekeeper at the Holiday Inn that was a short distance from home. On her schedule later that afternoon, she would be attending two classes at NCTC, a two year junior college before she transfers to a four year college. Swiftly, Jane splashes cold water on her face, brushes her teeth and hurriedly dressed into her housekeeping uniform.

After several attempts to start her car, the car finally turns over and Jane drives to work. Normally, Jane enjoys coffee at work; however, this morning the coffee was insipid. Jane picks up her room list and adds some supplies to her cleaning cart. Jane quickly moves towards the elevator and the third floor rooms to be cleaned and made ready for the hotel's guests.

While stripping the bed in room 323, Jane discovers a little black book. The little notebook reminds Jane of stories read and movies seen where the protagonist keeps a little address notebook with a list of all his girl friends or possible girl friends names, addresses and phone numbers. Jane checked out the little black book. Finding nothing written inside the notebook, a slip of paper falls out. It's a fortune from a fortune cookie with six numbers on one side (2 28 31 44 52 58) and "dreams come true" printed on the other side. Jane slips the notebook and fortune into her apron pocket and finishes her housekeeping duties.

Driving home, Jane hears an announcement that the Powerball jackpot will be $500 million, Jane makes a mental note to purchase a ticket that evening. At home, Jane quickly changes into jeans and a sweatshirt grabbing her backpack with her books and supplies for her afternoon classes. Outside in the parking lot, Jane's car won't start. Prior to having a panic attack, Jane made contact with a friend who was headed to campus. Luckily, Jane's friend, Niki, was able to give her a ride to campus. Between classes, Jane reached out to her reliable car mechanic who reassured her that he would have the car towed to his shop and have her car running and on the road in no time.

After classes, Niki and Jane decided to stop at a coffee shop before heading home. In advance of Jane exiting Niki's car, Jane thanked Niki for coming to her rescue and gave Niki the $5.00 tip that Jane had received earlier that morning to help pay for Niki's gas. Niki appreciated the gas money and called out to Jane that she would see her on Friday.

At home, Jane worked on one of her class assignments until her stomach growled. Jane chose the leftover chicken and broccoli in the fridge and heated the entrée in the microwave. The microwave beeped at the same time Jane's cell phone chimed. The unexpected phone call from her brother reminded her that she was going to purchase a Powerball ticket. Before going out and walking the two blocks to the gas station, she sat down and ate her dinner.

Once at the gas station, Jane purchased the Powerball ticket using the same numbers that were on the fortune cookie slip of paper. Jane slowly read the numbers to the clerk. Without the clerk asking, Jane requested that the clerk add power play to the ticket and to make it a cash option too. Jane splurged and spent an extra dollar for the power play option thinking it was a good idea.

Walking back home, the stars appeared brighter and the moon looked bigger brighter than Jane ever remembered. The walk reminded her of a dream that she had months earlier. Jane dreamt that she won a lottery game but woke up before she could spend the winnings. While it was only a dream, the dream of winning stayed with her and it was an exhilarating feeling.

Since it was getting late, Jane finished her other class assignment and was ready to call it a night. Taking a moment to reflect on the day's events, Jane was happy that she wasn't scheduled to work the next day and she didn't have any classes to attend which would give her the time needed to take care of the hot water heater issue and her car problem.

The next morning, before breakfast, before calling the landlord about the hot water heater and before calling her reliable mechanic, Jane checked her lottery ticket that sat on her dining table. The internet was slow but Jane was use to it. The Powerball numbers appeared on her laptop screen 2 28 33 44 52 18. Jane couldn't believe her eyes. She read the numbers allowed. It was unbelievable! Jane's eyes swelled up with happy tears. Jane knew that she couldn't tell anyone. At least for a while, Jane needed time to think about the winnings and what she planned to do. Jane looked at each number on the screen and back to the numbers on her Powerball ticket. Jane's ticket matched five of the numbers. Jane was a winner! With the power play, Jane didn't win 1 million but 2 million dollars. Winning made possible by unexpectedly finding a little black book with a fortune cookie slip of paper inside it, Jane's Powerball win was a dream come true.