Number Fifty-five!

‘’Number fifty-five!’’

‘It can’t be possible’ my eight years old mind told me. I looked at my squeezed and water washed blue ticket again with renewed interest, like it was my ticket to heaven.

‘’Number fifty-five!’’

It was the last thing on the agenda for the day; the raffle draw and they had just called my number as the grand prize winner.
See, prior to that, when it comes to winning stuff, I have never given a second thought talk more of a raffle draw in an independence day mask party.
‘I won’, kept echoing in my head.

Now, the grand price was a shiny new small tricycle, which I obviously had no use for at the time, but the exhilarating fact was ‘I won!’
Luck had ignored hordes of noisy children and shined on me, mother earth was happy with me. My heart did a flip flop and a few summersaults in jubilation.

I don’t know how, but I found myself in front of the one thousand plus fagged out kids after a day of rigorous play and fun under the scalding sun.
I forgot in my excitement that one of my shoes was missing and I ran with one bare foot! Totally ignoring the look of disapproval on the presenter’s face, (nothing could spoil my day at that point), I presented my ticket.

The rectangular ticket was not in the best shape when I turned it in, but even a mad man could see the washed ‘fifty-five’ on the cheap paper.
It had fallen a couple of times and on one such unfortunate time, into a pool of muddy water. Looking at it in trepidation, contemplating picking it up, my thoughts were interrupted ‘Leave it there; no one ever wins this raffle thing anyway’.

It was my brother who, two years my senior, felt he at ten, was ’the wise one’ and I, usually his humble follower, for once wasn't tempted to do what he said. I picked it up as carefully as my little hands would allow and laid it to dry on the arm of my chair like it was a bird with a broken wing. He looked on with disgust, but I couldn't be bothered; it was my treasure.

The problem however, was that in my excitement, when asked if I would like to give a speech, my head acting on its own, nodded in affirmation when in my heart of hearts, I didn't want to.

Next thing, there was a microphone in front of my tiny mouth and I said the first thing that came to my limited brain

‘I want to thank the makers of the show for dashing me the bicycle’

Huh???????