01
In 2001, after my brother got married, I decided to head south for work. I was packing my bags when, out of nowhere, another version of me appeared right in front of me. Me, from the future.
"Listen to me. Don't go south. Mom's sending you south to get you out of the way. The truth is she's not your real mother. She married Dad and brought your brother along with her. Things aren't good on Dad's end either. You need to talk him into coming home as soon as you can."
That was the first I'd ever heard of it. I'd always believed she was my birth mother, even though she only ever doted on my brother.
"Tonight you go buy a lottery ticket. The numbers are 6, 9, 12, 13, 18, 26, and the special number is 13. Buy ten lines of it."
The me in front of me looked worn down, his face haggard, his hair already going gray.
Before I could say anything, he explained. "After you go south, you'll come into a little money. But the old house here is about to be torn down for redevelopment. When that happens, Mom's going to hand every cent of the payout to your brother. You'll come back with nowhere to even stay, and in the end you'll carry a whole mountain of your brother's debt. You'll die before you ever pay it off."
So that was how it went. And since he was me, my own future self, surely he wouldn't lie to me.
"Once you collect the prize, buy some houses. Rent them all out and live off the rent. Put a little into gold at the bank too. And remember this above everything: never, ever give your brother the house."
...
When my future self finished, he vanished. I turned his words over and over, and in the end I chose to believe him.
My brother had just finished with the wedding. Marrying him off had eaten up most of the family's money. Mom had heard that going south for work could earn you a lot, so she said to me, "Ollie, look, we spent everything on your brother's wedding. You're young. Go south and try to make something of yourself."
"Your dad and I will keep earning here at home, and when the time comes we'll find you a wife too."
There was nothing wrong with what she said. To be honest, part of me was tempted.
I'm only two years younger than my brother. He's twenty-seven. I'm already twenty-five.
The way things stood in our family, finding money for a wife for me too was going to be hard.
So I'd agreed. I'd planned to go south and earn.
What I hadn't known was that before I left, she'd also make me sign a transfer deed.
I tossed and turned all night, that string of numbers running through my head.
The moment it got light I was up, and I went looking for the lottery stand without even eating.
I bought the ticket with the numbers my future self had given me, ten lines of it.
Carrying that ticket around left me with a jittery, uneasy feeling.
When I got home, Mom, my brother, and the new bride were all sitting at the table, like they'd been waiting for me on purpose.
I gripped the ticket in my pocket and stepped through the door.
Mom's face fell the second she saw me. She actually shot me a glare.
"Oliver Gilbert, where'd you run off to first thing in the morning? Your train to Los Angeles is today, or did you forget?"
So that was what she was angry about. Of course I knew the train was today. I'd run off precisely because I didn't want to go.
I twisted the hem of my shirt, my palms damp. I'd been an obedient kid all my life, and now that I was suddenly refusing to obey, my own heart was pounding.
"Mom, I don't want to go to Los Angeles anymore. I want to stay..."
"Stay? What are you going to do if you stay? You're twenty-five this year. Without money, how am I supposed to find you a wife?"
That was how she'd always talked to me. It had never bothered me before, but now, all at once, it stung.
My brother wasn't looking at me kindly either. "Ollie, you already agreed, didn't you? Why the sudden change? Look how worried you've got Mom."
They kept at it, one line after another, and I couldn't get a word in.
Mom shot to her feet, like she was handing down a final order. "You're going to Los Angeles whether you like it or not. If you don't make it today, you go tomorrow."
She slapped a transfer deed down in front of me. "Sign this before you leave. Don't worry, it's not to hurt you. It's decided."
I quietly clenched my fist. Just as I'd thought. I didn't even need to open it to know what was written on that deed.
"Mom, I'm not signing it, and I'm not going to Los Angeles. If you don't agree, then you don't agree. Either way, I'm not going."
I came out so firm that it startled both Mom and my brother. They looked at each other, at a loss, and I didn't wait to see how they'd react. I turned and went back to my own room.
Mom shouted curses after me. "Oliver, you think you can turn this house upside down? Go on and try not going. Tomorrow I'll make sure you don't even get a meal."
Her temper was fierce. I could just picture her spitting those words out through gritted teeth.
I took the ticket out and looked at it again and again. I hoped with everything in me that it would win.
The next day I left early again. My mind was made up: I was staying. The way things were at home, there was no way I could keep living there, so I'd go find a job.
I was out the whole day, and finally I landed a design job. The pay wasn't much, but it came with room and board, and that was what pleased me most.
I got the paperwork done fast, and by nightfall I stepped into a convenience store.
This place always had the TV on in the evening, and they'd find the channel with the lottery draw.
When the draw came, I stood there gripping my hands, tense.
Once all the winning numbers were up, I checked them against mine, over and over.
I really had won.
