I scraped the penny across the first small box in the bottom left corner and uncovered a bold number fourteen.

Right under the matching fourteen was the number seventy-three followed by six printed zeroes.

My hand slowed as I cleared the latex off the other five boxes on the bottom row.

Every single box held the number fourteen, and every line was followed by the same exact payout: seventy-three million dollars.

My thumb began twisting my grandmother’s silver ring around my finger until the skin under the band turned red.

I took my cell phone out of my pocket and pulled up the official state lottery website on the small screen.