in which Laura-Marie gambles pointlessly

We went to Albertson's for a specific thing and ended up buying other stuff too.  The checker asked us if we played Monopoly.  "Sure," I said.  "There are instant wins, right?"  She said yes.

She was counting a ton of tickets, and I wondered why.  I thought it was an odd time, to make us wait.  Then she handed us 48 tickets, which shocked me.

"It must be the last day," I told Ming.  "Maybe they want to get rid of them."

When I was on my way in, a guy standing by the door asked me a question I couldn't hear.  "What?" I asked, but I kept walking.  He mumbled that I should buy him some fried chicken.

I was really revolted by the idea.  "No," I said.  I guess because I don't eat chicken?  I was surprised by the strength of my reaction.

Ming looked at the receipt and told me 48 tickets was the amount we were supposed to get.

I started ripping open the tickets.  I realized I was gambling.  Normally I'm opposed, but it seemed silly to not get whatever free thing there might be a ticket for.

My fingers turned blue from the blue print on the tickets, but I got through them all.  We won four things, and then there were four tickets that were for two more tickets.

So Ming went to get the free things--crackers, water, candy, and aspirin, all particular brands and sizes.  I stayed in the minivan.

He came back empty-handed.  "What happened?" I asked.

He explained that none of the things we won were in stock.  Some there were empty places on the shelf.

"Did you tell someone?" I asked.

"Yeah, she just looked at me," Ming said.

All that gambling for nothing.  When I washed my hands, the blue mostly came off.

We're leaving for a short trip.  We're staying in a little house by a river.  We bought some mosquito repellent.  Wish us luck.