lottery Soma Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up." Mrs. Dunbar had small stones in both hands, and she said, gasping for breath. "I can't run at all. You'll have to go ahead and I'll catch up with you." The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles. Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her. - By Shirley Jackson June 18, 1948 221011 ... tender_square he stunk of cheap cologne to cloak his habit. had a long beard to make up for the fact that he had lost his hair. his skin was leather tough, the deep tan of labour. he hunched over the counter in his buffalo plaid coat, pushing a season that wasn't due to arrive for several weeks yet. the young waitress poured him a coffee. she moved behind the counter fluttering in a black mini skort and tee, makeupless, a trellis of inked roses climbed her arm. she handed him the scratchers he asked for from the lotto counter. "i didn't win," he shared. "even if you had, it'd be gone by the weekend," she teased, lifting a plate from the kitchen and setting it down in front of him. "i didn't realize we were married," he said. "and we won't ever be at this rate," she shot back. 230911 ... raze "i keep meaning to tell you," he said. "every time i run into you guys, i buy a lottery ticket." "i hope we bring you good_luck one of these days," i said. he said he'd let us know if he won. he didn't say he would share his winnings. then again, most people wouldn't say a thing like that, and if they did it would be a lie. 240307 what's it to you? who go blather from