Jackpot

By Jack Fisher

Jonathan Jackson Daniels knows a thing or two about luck. He came from a no-name town. He worked a dead end job. He lived his whole life seeing few get lucky breaks and even fewer make something of that luck. Then, in the luckiest break anyone could get, he won the lottery. He has the chance of a lifetime, but is scared to death of squandering it.

So before he tells anyone about his big break, he takes a trip to Las Vegas. He goes not knowing what to expect, only that he's going to indulge in the fruits of his luck. That's where he meets an enchanting woman named Janine “Jani” Jasmine. She makes it her mission to give him the time of his life, pushing his newfound luck to the absolute limit. But can a small-town guy like Jonathan handle her? Is he destined to squander his jackpot like so many others?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365068355

Book preview

Jackpot

Jackpot

He won.

She helped him cash in.

JACK FISHER

JACKPOT

Copyright © 2016 by Jack Fisher.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organiza- tions, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For information contact:

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Book and Cover design with the aid of Canva.

ISBN: 978-1-365-06835-5

First Edition: April 2016

Prologue

Those who are born poor tend to stay poor. It’s not because they’re lazy, unambitious, or stupid. It’s just the world they’re used to. I know this because that’s the world I’m used to. My name is Jonathan Jackson Daniels. I’m from South Carolina, I’m 28 years old, and I’m in a position to either prove or disprove this idea once and for all.

First, here’s a quick summary of the world I come from. I grew up in a small town that most people couldn’t find with compass, a map, and their own satellite. There’s no huge industry. There hasn’t been since the plantation era. We only have the basics. That is to say we’ve got gas stations, grocery stores, electricity, plumping, internet, and what not. We’re not some third world backwater, but we’re not a tourist destination either.

People who come through my town never care to stay for too long. Even the people born there are always looking to get out. The lack of opportunity, the underfunded schools, and the absence of any real luxury don’t give people much incentive to stick around. Those that do can expect a basic, bland, dead-end life. Those who want more have an uphill road to say the least. They couldn’t just be talented or hard-working. They had to be exceedingly lucky as well and, as is often the case, not many were.

My parents and siblings, like pretty much everyone in this town, didn’t have much luck. They worked their hands to the bone to put food on the table. They had to because there’s not much to work with in a town like mine. My dad works as a truck driver, staying on the road for days at a time. My mother works as a waitress, staying on her feet for 12 hours a day. They worked so hard for so little that I barely saw them. They always came home tired, sore, and distant. I know they loved me, but they really didn’t get a chance to show much love.

The same can be said for my siblings, who never had much luck in life either. My sister, Allie, is a 23-year-old high school dropout who got pregnant when she was 17. She then married the father of her child, albeit reluctantly, and works part-time at a department store. My little brother, Max, is a 20-year-old cautionary story. He tried too hard to make his own luck by selling drugs in high school. Not being particularly bright, he got caught and expelled. After spending a couple years in jail, he’s basically stuck working with my dad as a trucker. I can’t say he’s particularly happy with his line of work, but he’s lucky to have the options he’s got.

So what about me? Why am I describing my family as the kind of low-class white trash that almost everybody overlooks? Well, I do this to provide the right context. I have to so everyone can appreciate what happened to me, what I’m doing now, and what will come of it in the future. It’s important to understand because I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I love my family. I’m not the kind of guy who just spits on his roots. I’m just someone who wants to make the most of the luck he’s had and make no mistake, I’ve had the kind of luck that few will ever experience.

First, here’s a quick rundown of the luck I’ve had thus far. Unlike my siblings, I managed to graduate high school. I wasn’t an honor student or anything, but I didn’t slack off or self-destruct. Not having the money for college, I ended up getting a job at the Mayor’s office as a clerk. It’s not much, but it’s better than most jobs in my town. It didn’t pay much. It just put a roof over my head, food on my plate, and a manageable amount of debt. It also helped that I never got any of my girlfriends pregnant or adopted any expensive habits. In that sense, I’m already lucky. In another sense, however, this is more dread than luck.

What do I mean by that? Well, in a town like mine, the luckiest anyone ever gets almost requires that they be an athlete. If they’re really good at football or basketball, then maybe a scout from some fancy college will come by and offer them a scholarship. For most people in my town, it’s the only way towards a better life.

I know it sounds shallow, but that’s how the world works. We reward the people with skill who entertain us. I saw this first-hand because I played football in high school. Granted, I was a fourth-string wide receiver who never got a scholarship, but just being in that position showed me the darker side of luck.

I could pretty much set my watch to it. One day, someone on the team gets a scholarship to some fancy school. They’re on top of the world. They’re the lucky bastard who gets to leave this damn town and never return. Then, sometimes within that same week, they learn the hard way that there are a lot of forces holding them back.

It starts off all well and good. The lucky guy starts exploiting the hell out of his luck, as if it’s the kind of thing that goes bad if you don’t use it. They drink, they party, and they embrace the attention they get. For a while, everything is fine and dandy. Then, like an unwritten rule of nature, their luck runs out step-by-step.

First, a girlfriend would come forward and say she’s pregnant. Second, a former girlfriend will try to get back with them to join him on his free ride. Third, friends and family come forward, hoping to leech off his opportunity and destroy it if he doesn’t share it. Fourth, the guy either crumbles under the pressure or self-destructs. There is no fifth step.

Ask anyone in this town and they won’t deny it. Hell, I can count all the guys who managed to actually leave this town after getting an opportunity on one hand and once they leave, nobody ever hears from them again. It’s the tragic side of luck. As soon as someone gets a little, they push it to the breaking point. They either enjoy it too much or take it for granted. Most of them end up back where they started, albeit after burning a lot of bridges and wasting a lot of chances.

It can be downright soul-crushing. One of my old teammates even committed suicide after he got a scholarship and couldn’t deal with everything else that came with it. His ex-girlfriend claimed he assaulted her and tried to extort money from him. His parents demanded that he use his new star power to prop up their failing landscaping business. Then, when the pressure got to be too much, he got drunk and crashed his truck into a tree. When he found out he paralyzed himself, he put a gun in his mouth and blew his brains out.

These kinds of things kept me up at night. I knew from before I started shaving that I wanted more out of life than this town can offer. I also knew I didn’t want to lose what I had if I ever got it. I remember one night when I was 15, I wrote out this elaborate plan on a piece of paper on how I would succeed where so many had failed. I never thought I’d get a chance to try it out. Then, it happened.

This brings me to the lucky break that may or may not crush my soul. One month ago, I won the lottery. That’s not a metaphor for anything. I literally won the lottery, a game where the odds are so bad that I had a better chance of getting hit by lightning twice in the same day. In terms of luck, mine was so obscene that it felt like cheating, but it happened.

I won’t say how much I won, but I will say that after taxes, it was a comfortable, eight-figure sum. It’s more than enough for me to move out of my no-name town, set up shop wherever I want, and live in plenty of comfort for the rest of my days. Here’s the kicker though. Nobody in my town, including my own family, knows that I won.

Yes, I’ve kept it a secret. When I claimed the prize, I took a personal day from work and wore a disguise to the lotto office upstate. I made sure they didn’t blare my name all over the papers. I also made it a point not to tell anyone, which wasn’t easy. I actually did go into work the day after I claimed the prize. I then spent the next few weeks secretly setting up a bank account, investing the money, and following that plan I laid out years ago. I did all this without letting anyone know, but it can’t stay that way forever. It shouldn’t.

This leads me to my current predicament, if I can even call it that. I want to let my family know. I want to prove that someone from my town can get lucky, enjoy that luck, and not completely self-destruct. That said, I also want to enjoy this luck in the best possible way before it catches up with me.

For that reason, I’m taking a week off of work, under the guise of a road trip to see some old friends, and heading towards a place where the fruits of luck are at their most ripe – Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s right. I’m going to use this money I won with obscene luck to indulge in the comforts and luxuries that I never thought I’d get to enjoy.

Why am I doing this? Well, aside from the fact that I’m a normal, 28-year-old, heterosexual man, I do have my reasons. Remember that list I mentioned earlier? The one I made when I was a 15-year-old kid who could only fantasize about having such luck? Believe it or not, this was part of that list. I felt it had to be. Why shouldn’t it? Those who don’t use luck tend to suffer the same fate as those who push it. They either waste it or don’t appreciate it.

I want to do things differently. I want to get a taste of this world and prove that I can handle it. If I can’t, then chances are I’ll waste this luck like so many others who are not used to it. If I can, then maybe there’s hope for me, my family, and others like me.

So this is the story of how I, Jonathan Jackson Daniels, handle the fruits of obscene luck. I can’t guarantee it’s going to end well for me. I’ve already gotten very lucky. Now, it’s just a matter of learning how it feels to hit the jackpot.

Chapter One

We’re beginning our final approach to Las Vegas International Airport. The current temperature outside is 89 degrees. The time is 11:42 a.m. And the weather is sunny with no rain expected for the rest of the week. Enjoy your stay!

This announcement came over the PA system a 747 jet, sounding as routine as any announcement could. For me,