“Now...Pauline,” the announcer allowed his voice to turn calm and serious, “will you please draw the last number...the mystery number. America is waiting. I can't imagine the suspense being felt across our great nation as I speak.”
Pauline nodded and pressed a glowing white button. A white ball holding a green number on it shot up into a plastic tube. Candy squeezed her eyes closed. She would wait to hear the announcer call out the number. “And the mystery number is...94!” the announcer yelled. “We have a mystery number that is a duplicate number...the mystery number is94!”
“Dear God...if I win...if you let me win...I'll never let the toys be forgotten. The toys will live on...please...help me save the toys.” Candy pried her eyes open, bit down on her lower lip, and then forced her eyes to check the lottery ticket and then...nearly fainted. “Oh my...oh my...oh my...”
“Pauline, will you check to see if a winning ticket was sold?” the announcer asked after all the numbers had been drawn. Pauline walked to a little green table and pressed a red glowing button. The green screen on the back wall went blank for a minute, then a loud buzzer erupted, and the green screen began flashing white and red as money began to rain down. “Yes...we have a winning ticket.” The announcer was handed a piece of paper. “A single winning ticket was sold in the town of...Pine Snow, New York!”
Candy's hands began trembling so bad she almost dropped the lottery ticket she was holding.
“Whoever you are...congratulations!” The announcer tried to sound excited but obviously was disappointed. “Now remember, you must call the number on the back of your lottery ticket, and then a member from the National Lottery Association will visit your home to verify the winning ticket. Once the winning ticket is verified, you will be awarded your money. You have exactly two weeks to claim your money!”
Candy sat very still. For how long? She wasn't sure. The sound of the living room telephone ringing stirred her mind out of whatever daze she had fallen into. “I...Snowball...we...won...” Candy could barely speak. She sounded like a squeaky woodland creature. “We...won...”
Snowball barked at the ringing telephone. Candy then heard the telephone ringing. Somehow she stood up, walked to the phone table sitting close to the front door, and answered the call. “Hello...” she asked in a voice that sounded dazed and shocked.
“This is Betty. I just heard that the winning lottery ticket was sold in Pine Snow. You have the winning ticket, don't you, dear?” Betty spoke in a frantic voice. “I don't know how I know, but I do. I saw your face appear in my mind, and it was as if an angel told me you have the winning ticket! You can save the toys!”
“I...yes, Betty...I...I...can I please drive to your home?”
“No...I'm coming to you. Sit tight!” Betty ordered.Click.The call ended.
Candy lowered the phone receiver she was holding. How was a woman supposed to feel after winning the lottery? Candy wasn't sure. However, deep within her heart she saw a single teddy bear appear. “The toys...I can save the toys...” was all she could say as tears began falling from her eyes. Snowball let out an excited bark.
Outside the snow continued to fall.
Chapter 3
“Oh my...” Betty Vance could only stare with shocked eyes at the lottery ticket she was holding. “Dear, this is the winning ticket...oh my.”
“My words exactly.” Candy took a sip of hot coffee. She was finally able to talk and think more clearly. “I called the number on the back of the lottery ticket. A Mrs. Greenstone will be arriving tomorrow to verify the ticket.” Candy still sounded a bit shocked and on the nervous side. “Betty...if I did win...and it seems that I did...I want to buy the rights to the toys.”
“I had a feeling.” Betty placed the winning lottery ticket into a plastic freezer bag and then put the freezer bag into a cooking pot sitting on the stove. The cooking pot was empty and the stove was off. “It's wise if we keep the ticket hidden and do not tell anyone you won.”
Candy agreed. She watched Betty open a bag of rice. The woman filled the cooking pot with the rice, covering the freezer bag. “You're a smart woman.”
“I know how to hide my valuables,” Betty explained. She threw the empty rice bag into the trash can, then hurried to the kitchen table and sat across from Candy. “Okay, dear...I think wehave more than enough money to pay Bob off. We can save the toys, but the sad fact is no matter what...we lost the toy factory.”
Candy studied Betty's eyes. “Betty...there's something horribly wrong that you haven't told me yet. What is it?” Deep down Candy knew the answer to her question. “Are you and Mr. Vance going to—”
“Divorce?” Betty finished for Candy. Candy nodded her head yes. Betty slowly picked up her coffee cup. She took a sip of coffee and then sighed. “Yes, dear, we're going to end our marriage. Bob has...changed. Even worse...I think he has a woman on the side.”
“Oh, Betty, I'm so sorry.”
“It's the woman Bob's been seeing that talked him into selling the toy factory,” Betty explained in an angry but sad voice. “Bob has changed through the years. The man I married was so kind and loving. He loved the toys and adored the toy factory. But after his parents died, he stopped going to church...grew angry...he even started to drink. Why? I don't know. Bob's parents both lived to be very old. Bob had many, many years with them.”
“I think you do know, Betty,” Candy gently pressed.
Betty looked down at her coffee. “Yes, perhaps you are right. Perhaps I do know.” Betty grew silent for a minute. “Perhaps Bob was never the man I thought he was, Candy. Perhaps I was the one who had been the fool for all these years, refusing to acknowledge the truth.”
“Will you be okay?” Candy worried.
Betty nodded. “My attorney will attack Bob with force. Bob won't put up much of a fight. I'll walk away from the marriage with quite a bit of money, but not enough to buy the rights to the toys.” Betty lifted her head. “Candy, honey, you can save the toys. You must save the toys. You must build a new toy factory, but not in Pine Snow.”
Confused, Candy asked, “Leave Pine Snow?”
Betty nodded. “I'll work it out on my end. I'll force Bob to sell you the rights to the toys. I know...certain secrets about him that he may not want the public to know about.”
“Betty—”
