Space Witches 1: The Book of Witches

16. Jackpot

By now all the neighbors were outdoors as well, running after the van to see who the lucky one was.

The Great Lottery Van stopped... in front of our house! I had a good view of Aunt Muriel's face and she looked as if she could die of envy. As did many of our neighbors as well. Mother and Tina looked more as though they were going to faint.

I felt the invisible hot hands pushing me towards the door. With the lady in black gone I figured it was safe to get out again and joined the crowd in our front yard.

"I'm going to have a nose job done," I heard Tina speaking excitedly into her smartphone, "and then go to one of the Palace Plates to shop for a week! Maybe buy a house there!"

She was already phoning all her friends.

The Great Lottery Van came to a halt and its side wall flew open with a fanfare, revealing a stage. On it was standing Miss Lottery – every young beauty coveted the role and attended the yearly pageant to select the next lucky holder of the title, who would spend her year in gorgeous evening gowns, delivering the news about their lottery prizes to the fortunate winners. In the days between each draw, she spent her time on the Palace Plate with a little army of beauticians within a constant flow of reporters. All her spare time was spent hunting for a rich boyfriend there so she would not need to go back to her ordinary life at the end of the year.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen!" this year's Miss Lottery announced with a wide pink smile. "I have come with good news for one lucky, lucky person who lives at this address! Come on now, everyone who lives here, up to the van!"

Tina's nose was already almost touching the side of the Lottery Van. Mother remained standing where she was, and I was somehow pushed to the fore.

"One of you has won the jackpot!" Miss Lottery said in an arch manner, and a little cannon by her side shot gold and silver confetti into the air with a loud bang and the sound of recorded cheers and corks popping.

Everybody standing around the van cheered too and applauded while being filmed by a rather bored-looking cameraman.

"Can you guess who the lucky winner is?" Miss Lottery asked, pointing at the three of us in turn with her glittering magic wand.

Well, it couldn't be me as I never played the lottery. Though right now I sure wish that I had. As far as I knew Tina had not done so either, so it had to be either mother or father.

"I won't keep you in suspense long," Miss Lottery giggled. "When I say her name, I want the winner to step forward and claim her prize without delay..."

Her? So it was mother, who looked like she was about to faint.

"And the winner is..."

Everyone was looking at mother now. She smiled and straightened her dress with her hands.

"...Nina!" Miss Lottery spread her hands triumphantly.

What? Everyone turned to look at me. Mother looked surprised and happy, Tina looked pale and almost furious, and Aunt Muriel was bright red and definitely furious. All the others wore expressions that were a mixture of envy and surprise.

"But I..." I tried to explain this had to be a mistake, but Miss Lottery beat me to it.

"And to deliver the cheque... here are two previous winners from past years..."

My mouth fell open as Miro and Sarah walked onto the stage. Miro's hair was blonde now, and he was wearing the most expensive and fashionable clothes and sunglasses that almost covered his face, giving him the appearance of the cheesiest of celebrities. Sarah was wearing a hat that hid her face almost completely, so covered in decorative flowers that if she had sat down she would have been mistaken for a bush. Her chiffon dress reached her ankles in floral cascades and bright red high heels with glittering buckles completed her elegant appearance. They looked so different from the last time I had seen them, but it was Miro and Sarah without a doubt. How the heck had they pulled this one off?

"Do come up here, dear," Sara took the microphone from Miss Lottery and waved at me almost furiously as I was still standing stock still, mouth open. "Come and join in the fun!"

She winked at me and I managed to gain control of my legs again. Another fanfare spurred me into action and glittering steps appeared from under the van with such speed they knocked over the ornamental fence of our front yard. If I hadn't stepped aside, I would have been knocked down as well.

"Whoops!" I heard Miss Lottery's giggle. She was holding a remote control in her hands, probably to control those very stairs.

As I climbed the stairs I wondered if I was actually still in bed in the hospital, hallucinating. When I turned to face the crowd again, I saw Aunt Muriel tank her way towards her car, pushing people aside, slipping in the snow. She never was able to stand witnessing other people's good fortune.

By the time I reached Miss Lottery, she had placed the remote control somewhere and was now pulling a huge cheque from behind the blue and gold curtains at the back of the stage. It was golden, of course, and on it was written an enormous sum that made people sigh.

"How did you manage this?" I whispered to Sara.

She covered the microphone with her hand.

"Tell you all about it later," she whispered back.

"But now everyone thinks I am rich! And I'm not, I haven't bought a lottery ticket like... well, ever! How will I explain to everyone that I actually did not win a thing?"

"Who says you didn't?" Sara winked at me again.

When the words hit home my jaw dropped, quite appropriately for someone who realizes she has won the jackpot. In an hour, at the latest, my stunned expression would be all over the news, I was sure.

"And now we are going to carry the lucky winner off to the Palace Plate to cash her cheque!" Miss Lottery flashed her smile at everyone and clapped her hands like crazy. "You can watch it on the news. And don't forget to buy your own lottery ticket next week – all the proceeds go to educating less fortunate people!"

Another surreally wide pink smile.

Sara pushed the cheque into my hands without letting go of it, so everyone could take pictures of us holding it together. Then she fished out the remote control from somewhere and the stairs shot back to their place under the van. The side of the vehicle slid down to the sound of more tinkling ice cream van music, hiding the cheerfully waving Miss Lottery and us from the envious neighbors. The last thing I saw were Tina's hands, making a gesture to tell me to call her. No doubt her mind was churning out a shopping list at least a mile long.

Miss Lottery smiled sweetly at us and disappeared behind the stage.

"Phew, that was close!" Miro took off the huge sunglasses but did not remove the wig.

"Yes it was, she almost caught you," Sara sighed, kicking off her high heeled shoes.

"Would you please explain what's going on?" I spread my hands, taking in everything around us. Confetti, the huge cheque leaning against my legs, the bling everywhere.

"Well it was the only way to get you out of her grasp when we realized she was coming for you," Sara sighed. "We had to organise all sorts of little diversions for her so we could arrange for the Lottery Van to get to your plate in time. We needed as many people around you as possible, and everyone knows that the Lottery Van causes a minor stampede - and sometimes a major one - when it turns up."

The van began moving, rising above the neighborhood and warbling its ice cream van song.

"Where are we going now?" I asked, looking down as my old home become a small spot in a row of similar spots.

"To the Palace Plate of course. Everything will be explained to you there," Sara said, removing the astonishing floral creation from her head. "But until we get there I refuse to wear those heels or this horrible hat any longer!"