Jackpot

Dave and I are in a huge arcade. He is in a corner playing a video game and I walk past a row of slot machines. But the one I play is odd because I pull a handle in the middle of floor all by itself, then walk through the arcade and around a corner to the actual machine which by the time I get there is already about to stop spinning it’s wheels. I walk back to the handle to try again. After I pull, I walk back to the machine and there is a crowd around it. All three wheels have hit the same crazy symbol, something like Super Jacks represented by a giant “J”. There are large silver coins piling up inn front of the machine. But I never hear the cling, cling, cling of the coins falling that I love so much. I start running my fingers through the coins, even digging them out from beside the machine where they are over-flowing. There is a digital read-out right below the wheels that reads how large the pay out is. It is a 1 or 5 followed by 6 or 8 zeros. I leave to find Dave or because I have a job interview. When I tell Dave about all the money I won, he doesn’t believe me and won’t come with me to look or help pick up the money. He says there’s no way I won whatever thousands of dollars in an arcade. When I return to the machine, the pile of coins is gone. I turn to the manager who is nearby arranging large plastic cups of pennies. I ask him where he put my money and he just shrugs and says something. Only then do I realize that the crowd has disappeared with my money.