Lucky 12

by Edward Harrison

Overview

LUCKY 12: It started in Brooklyn NY in a carpet shop. And the people that work there hit a big New York lottery. The owner of the carpet shop had also wanted to go west and live. Now he thought with the money he made he could build a town of his own, and the other hadn't thought about it, so he had a meeting with the other eleven and brought up his idea. About building a small town together, they pick Arizona, as the place. Three of them went out to see if they could find a place they found what they were looking for and the rest followed, they built their homes and raised their children and make friends with the Indians in the area, some of the children were Indians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466997479
Publisher:	Trafford Publishing
Publication date:	10/23/2013
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)

Read an Excerpt

LUCKY 12

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By Edward Harrison

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2013 Edward Harrison
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-9747-9

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CHAPTER 1

LUCKY 12

It all started in December of 1980, in a carpet store on Mc Donald in Brooklyn, New York. The carpet store was owned by a fellow named Edward (ED) Garrison, he was a fifty year old widower, and his wife had died of lung cancer, about two years ago.

Some of the people that worked with him at that time, was a carpet layer named Vincent (Vin) Devito, and another fellow named Harold Katz, and a carpet salesman, who's name was Robert (Bob) Ward. Then there was this secretary, named Ann Tyler, and her husband had died from lung cancer also, about two years ago also, she was forty-eight years old, and a widow.

There was an accountant and his name was Chris Silverman, he was there in the store at this time, to do the end of the yearbooks for the carpet shop. It was getting close to Christmas, and Ed was having the carpet store remodeled, and in the store at the time, was a contractor, his name was Glenn Jacoby. And with him was an electrician named Peter (Pete) Wallman, a plumber, whose name was Patrick (Pat) Riley, and also carpenter named George Robert's. In there also at that time was local police officer, he had always stopped into the carpet store for coffee, and his name was Ted Nelson, he was a friend of Ed's.

It was just about lunch time, so Ann made a list of what everyone wanted to eat for lunch. There was a coffee shop on the corner, and in there was a waitress, her name was Helen Black. The coffee shop was owned by a fellow whose name was Leonard, everyone called him Lenny, I don't know if even Lenny knew his last name. It was near the weekend, and the New York lottery was up to forty eight million dollars.

Glenn was kidding around, when he said, "Why don't we all chip in, and buy some lottery tickets for this weekend, each one of us will pick out some numbers that we like, and then we will put them on the lottery tickets, only six numbers on each ticket."

Everyone thought that it was a good idea, so Glenn went around, and he collected the money and the numbers from everyone.

Helen was delivering the food that Ann had called into the coffee shop. She said, "Could I get in on that also?"

Glenn replied, "Why not, there is enough room for everyone; just give us your list of numbers and your money."

Then Helen took the numbers and the money back with her, and she put the lottery numbers into the machine, then she brought the tickets back with the coffee.

After Helen brought the tickets back to them.

Ed told them "I will put them into the safe, until Monday, and then we will know if we made any money?"

They all laughed for they had been down that road before, just winning five or ten dollars now and then, but nothing big.

Well as it happened Monday came around, and the store was open, and all the people were back to work. Ed had brought in the Sunday paper, and then they sat down to look at the tickets, after Helen had brought coffee in for everyone. Ann had called the order in to Lenny's, Helen's boss was a nice fellow, and the carpet store had given him a lot of business over the years, so to have Helen run over there with their coffee, was something he had done for a long time.

As they were going through the tickets, and they throwing out the loser's, and saving the one or two, that was paying the usual five or ten dollars.

When all of a sudden Ann started to call out the numbers, '2-610-32,' then for a moment she had stopped, then she said '48', then it seemed like a long time before she could get out number '49', then she dropped the paper.

Ed bent down and he picked up the paper, and then he read off the numbers, to be sure she was right, and there it was '2-6-10-32-48-49' those were the numbers on one of the tickets. There was a hush, then shouting, and then laughter, everyone was jumping around, and laughing.

While they were doing all the hollering Ed looked at them, he said, "Whoa slow down, we don't know how many others, that played the lottery that may have the same numbers, but what the hell, whatever it is we finally have a chunk of the pie. We will have to take the ticket to the coffee shop, and see what the computer has to say, on how many other winners, that there might be."

They locked the door, and they waltzed down to the coffee shop, all twelve of them.

Then Lenny put the ticket into the machine, and it come back 1 winning ticket, then they all went crazy, and they were jumping up and down.

Lenny brought out a bottle of Champagne, 'I was saving this for New Years eve, too enjoy it with my wife.'

Helen said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I think that I'm going to quit this job, OK?"

Lenny and everyone else laughed. In the meantime all the phones were busy, the ones that were married, were trying to reach their wives, to tell them what kind of luck they had today.

After the shouting was over, Ed asked all of them to come back to the store.

Glenn looked at him, "You don't think that we are going to go back and finish the job today, do you?"

Ed replied, "No, it just that maybe we should get together, and discuss what we could do, with some of that good fortune that we just had."

When they reached the shop, Ed said, "Listen, now that none of us have to work anymore, is that what we really want to do with the rest of our lives? I had this dream, and that's if I ever came into money, and I mean a lot of it. I would like to build a town, I mean one from the ground up, plan the roads, and the stores, and have all my friends and relatives move in there with me, and help build this town together. Right now I will have four million dollars before tax's that should be enough for my share, to buy some land out west.'

Glenn was right there with him, "Hell, I thought about something like that also; I wanted to build homes, not just add-on's and small construction work, like I'm doing."

Chris cut in, "I like the idea also, and I don't have any place to go anyway."

Vincent commented, "I would love to go with you Ed, but I will have to take it up with Rose, you know that, before I can give you an answer."

Ed. Replied, "Yes I know."

Helen thought about it for a moment, "I would like to start over some place else, and make a new life for myself, and maybe then I could meet someone, and raise a family of my own."

Peter said, "Are there any girls out where you want to go?"

Ed replied, "I don't know, but I guess there are girls everywhere you go."

Pat slapped Pete on the back, "If my friend Peter goes I go, Right buddy?"

Peter replied, "That's right."

Harold remarked, "I don't know about that, for I would have see what my Molly thinks about it, before I can answer you on that one."

Bob said, "My kids are going to school yet, and my wife likes this place, I just don't know."

All the married men said just about the same thing that they would have to talk it over with their wives first before they could give an answer.

Ted told Ed, "I like the idea; it would give me a chance to get away from the city for awhile."

George was listening to Ted, then he said, "Sound good to me also."

Ed then said, "All right, let's just say that once we have the money in our hands, then we will have one more meeting like this one, but that's after you fellows that are married, talk to your wives about this idea. What do you say that in a month from now, after the money comes in, we will meet here again, this time with all the families?"

Everyone agreed to meet, even if they had not totally agreed, about going along with Ed's idea.

Then Ed said, "I will have a dinner for you and your families, right here, all catered of course, so bring everyone, even if they are not up to the idea, the dinner will be on me, you will have nothing to lose."

Ann stayed on the job with Ed, and a few times she had told him, "It sounded like a good idea to her, but you would need more then me to go along with you, and I wouldn't go there, without a group of people going along. But I will help you, whenever I can, and you know that, so till we find out who wants to go, I can't give you my answer."

Ed replied, "That's fine with me."

Then she sat down, and she wrote a letter to three different States in the Southwest and in a little over week, she had received back from the States, some information on land that was for sale in their states.

One month went by, it was now February, and each one of them had received their share of the jackpot, and now the dinner was coming up soon. Ed and Ann had been going over some of the papers, about the land that was for sale in some of the states out west. They found some of the cheapest land, south of the Navajo Reservation between Guthrie and Duncan on Rt. 75 in Arizona, that area might be a good place for the town.

Vin Devito was talking to his wife Rose and they were having a little discussion about the matter of going west.

Rose was saying, "Steve and Sarah still have to go to school."

Vinnie replied, "What the "hell," are they learning here in these schools in Brooklyn, that they can't learn someplace else? And if Bob's wife Mary goes, she is a damn good teacher, they would get more from her in education, and then they will in these schools.

And they would have a lot less problem's street wise, and they would be learning something new each day, and it would give them a chance to see more of this country, then just Brooklyn."

Rose replied, "What is out there, nothing, no stores or anything; there are not even bathrooms?"

Vinnie came back with, "Listen, I know it will be a problem in the beginning, but as we go on, it will improve, I promise you. We have enough money now, that we could change our minds, if we don't like it, but why not give it a chance?"

Rose replied, "I don't know, but let's ask the children what they think about the idea."

They called in Steve and Sarah, and then they ask the children what they thought about the idea of moving in to the wilderness, with Indians all around. The children loved the idea, that they would be going to some place new, and they will get a chance to see some Indians, they loved that part of the story.

Then Rose said, 'I don't know yet, but we could go to the meeting with you, and see what the others have to say, even if it's just for the dinner."

Harold Katz was talking to his wife Molly about going out west.

Molly went to say, "Harold I don't really know if it a good idea, for we are the only Jews in the crowd."

Harold, replied, "That's not true; Chris Silverman the accountant is also a Jew. And if he goes that's three, and if we do this right, there is possibility that there will be more of us, as the town grows. And I'm sure we could build a temple for a Rabbi, if we had to, as far as Morris goes, he had his lessons already. And he will have his bar mitzvah here, before we go anywhere, and it would be good for the boy to get away from the city.

Then Molly said, "Give me a chance to think about it, and if you want to go to the meeting, we will go with you. For you know how much we love you and I don't believe you would lead us in the wrong direction."

Harold was elated to hear molly say that, "Great "if I didn't think that this was right, I wouldn't have even brought it up."

Bob went home to talk with his wife Mary; she had just turned thirty.

Bob was talking to her about going west with the rest of the fellows.

Mary replied, "No way Jose" you're not getting our three children and me, to go to some "God forsaken country". I like my comforts at home here, and I like my shopping, and I like what the kids are doing, and I don't want to disrupt our lives."

Bob continued, "Look Honey" I don't want to do anything that you don't want to do. "But" you are a teacher, and you're a damn good teacher, and our kids have nothing to lose. And with the money that we won, are lives will not be the same here anyway, from here on in it is going to be different, and as for the kids, they would go to a private school. Look lets go to the meeting, and let's see what Ed has in his mind, before you make up your mind please."

Then Mary said, "As for the kid's go, why don't we get their opinion." then they called Henry, Janet and Peter in?

Henry said, Mom, Dad we had been listening to you two, and we all want to go."

Bob and Mary laughed; "Even Peter wants to go," Mary said.

Peter was shaking his head up and down; "Yes mother, even Peter wants to go."

Then Mary said, "Well I guess we can go to the dinner, and see what the rest have to say about it."

Glenn had been thinking it over, and he had made up his mind, that he would like to try it anyway, all he had been doing in this city, was a small building job, here and there.

And he was always thinking about building homes, but in this area there was not too much land to build on anymore. This could be his chance in life, for at fifty, he was not ready to retire yet. After his wife died three years ago, he stayed pretty much to himself, and he was not looking to get involved with another woman, not yet anyway. For his wife and him had grown up together, and she had been the only woman, he had ever been to bed with. It had been his first and only love, and to have her die, was a real shock to him. He was working almost day and night, to keep the loss of her from hurting him to much, it had been unexpected, and it happened over night in the hospital, she went in, and she never come out alive, the doctors found a aneurysm in her brain.

George and his wife Betty, they had been going over the question, on what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. When the money came in, it made more of a problem for them, for their marriage had been going down hill for a time now, and the question was still there, whether to stay together or not.

George was first to speak, "Look honey, I have been working my ass off, for the past 15 years with Glenn, but I didn't mind that, because it was for you and the kids, it's what I was working for, so that all of you would have something. Now that we have more money then we need, and I don't care, I need you, for you're the most important thing to me. I know I was not around much, because of my work, but we have a chance now, not just for us, but for the kids also. I know that it will be tough in the beginning, but we will be together. And I won't have to be away as much as I was, and I could do, what I like to do, and that is building homes. And it would do our kids a lot of good, to see some other places in this country, besides just this city. So please say that you love me, and we will try to make our marriage work.'

Betty replied, "George "I do love you "I always thought that you were pulling away from me. And if you feel that we would be happier with you, doing what you like to do, some place else, then I'm with you.'

Pat had been talking to Glenn, for they were still finishing the job at the carpet store, and he told Glenn, "If you go, then I go Amigo! You know that I like working with you, and as a friend you are the best, you and Pete. If enough people were going, that could be going, for it's like a dream come true, to be able to build homes and stores.

Peter told Pat, "My parents said, if I go with you, they would miss me, since I am their only son."

Pat replied, "Your father has retired now, and him and your mother, their both in good-health take them with you, you can afford it. And if they don't like it there, you can always send them back here, or you can come back with them, but for now the more the merrier. Ask them if they would like to go with us, if we go, and then bring them to the dinner, so that they can meet everyone else."

After work, Peter went home, and had a little talk with his parents.

He told them that he would like to go out west, to build homes and to live there, and that most everyone else is going. 'Patrick, George and Glenn have been like a family to me, so mom and dad; I don't want to leave you here by yourselves. I really don't want to go without you, "So dad, if I buy you and mom a motor home", would you like go there along with me? And then if you don't like it there, you can always come back here, and if you want I will come back with you, what have you got to lose?'

Richard said, "What the hell", Katie there is not much for us here anymore anyway, and if our only son is going west, I'm sure we could at least give it a try."

It took Katie a few minutes, "Richard and Peter you are my only family, and if this is what it takes for us to stay together, then so be it. But make sure that trailer has a good big stove in it, for you know how much I love to cook."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from LUCKY 12 by Edward Harrison. Copyright © 2013 Edward Harrison. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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