Big Timers

When I was about 7 or 8 my dad won the lottery. The BIG lottery. He's always been one who enjoys gambling, though he never did it at the expense of the family, he only used extra money he got from side jobs. Well, he'd take the bus up to Atlantic City, do the casinos and on the way back buy lottery tickets where ever the bus would stop off. I don't remember, but I think it was a Maryland ticket he bought that won.
The night we found out he'd just come home from a 3-11 shift and his eyes were bigger than usual. My mom and he were in the kitchen and I must have wandered in to the conversation. He had a cig tilted out the side of his mouth, my mom was at the table, he was leaning against the sink. Now, most people if they'd just found out that they'd won the lottery would be totally amped, jumping up and down, planning vacations, new cars, homes, etc. But not my dad, no sir-ree-bob, not my pops. He was preparing his stratagy. He was planning on how we'd break the news to everyone, when and where we'd relocate to, and how we'd need protection from would-be kidnappers and thieves. Strategy.
The next day we went to visit my grandfather (dad's dad) and I remember on the way over to my grandparents house my dad did most of the talking, still strategies about his next move. At my grandparents (and for some reason it was sweltering in there, I felt so sick I thought I'd pass out) he and my grandfather went upstairs to continue talking while my mom and I were downstairs. When we left it was decided that we would tell NO ONE until we knew how much the winnings were.
A day later (and a dollar short, and I mean that quite literally) we found out that so many people hit the jackpot and the lesser prizes that our slice was not hardly anything to warrant kidnappers coming after us.
I don't think as a kid I ever really grasped how much that would have changed everything, where I went to school, who I met, what I do now. I rarely even think about what happened or what could have happened, not unless I'm trying to think of a funny story to tell friends and entertain people. Or, when I play the lottery.