The boyfriend called me yesterday morning sounding a little frantic.
"You didn't happen to buy Lotto tickets last night, did you? he asked.
Sadly, no, because Tuesday night someone in Bako hit the Mega Millions jackpot. Fifty one million, 32 million after taxes.
Well, so much for our retirement plan. Good luck is in such short supply in this town I doubt anyone else in Bakersfield will hit a jackpot in my lifetime.
Yesterday the winners were revealed, an elderly couple. Making the story that much more heartbreaking, they bought their winning ticket at a gas station where the boyfriend often bought his. He's inconsolable.
Had we won, we'd be picking up the check on the way out of town. We'd pay someone to pack up the house and ship it to our wonderful new home back in civilization.
Scratch that.
We'd be on the road five minutes after they announced the numbers. They could wire us the money. We'd just mail the house keys to a charity and say "Adios Bako" as we watched it drop out of sight in the rearview mirror.
A girl can dream. Or at least she could until Tuesday night.
