Claimants
By Alan M. Danzis

(continued)

After the scream-fest with Sarah James, things did finally start to calm down for Rich. He eventually went down to the Lottery Commission Headquarters and with his wife's hand firmly in his, turned in his ticket and opted for the lump sum. The money was barely in the bank, when a doorbell ring came during Monday Night Football one night a few weeks later. A forty-year old brunette, dressed in a grey suit, leaned against the door spouting that she was Rich's mistress and demanded a cut of the money from a ticket she purchased after a romp at the Motel 6. This was, of course, despite the fact…

I have never met you before in my life! Get off my porch, you crazy cook!

Anne, of course, believed Rich would never cheat on her, but she also couldn't possibly pass up the chance to divorce him on the grounds of adultery and collect half his…

If you want half my winnings, you're going to have to pry it from my cold dead hands!!

Larry, Rich's dead-beat brother, showed up a week later to help Rich move all his belongings out of the house. As they moved boxes full of Grateful Dead CDs, wedding photos, and fishing gear, Larry started to tell Rich about organic plants in South America that were being used in new HIV vaccine trials. If they got on the ground floor — by putting up a modest $1.2 million — they could wind up making…

Larry, let me save you the time… don't even bother.

A few days later, the morning after Josh didn't return to Rich's apartment after going out to a late party, Rich answered the phone to hear a kidnapper demanding ransom for his only son. After consulting with the FBI, and placing a trace on the money that Rich left for the kidnappers under a bench in a local park, it turned out it was all a rouse developed by Josh himself that wanted what he considered his fair share of the…

You're worse than your mother… you are no longer my son.

After all was said and done, Rich settled down in a nice apartment three towns over from his old house, where Josh, Anne, and Derek Hepperstein lived. He stayed at his job for a few more months, before going into some construction work with Larry. The project only lasted for a few more months, before the board of auditors were indicted; Larry fled to Vegas — his sanctuary — and Rich trolled the papers for jobs every day until he came across an ad looking for a man with no family obligations to join a fishing crew.

For the first time, in a long time, Rich felt truly happy; he felt like he had just won the lottery.