Flood lights on over the garage. A lamp in the front room.Wind blows an American flag. Trash dances down the street; wrappers from chocolate bars.

A twenty-four hour gas station. Various cars and trucks fill up with petrol. The lottery sign glowing in the window says $42, 000, 000. That would be enough, he said.

To what? she asked

Start a new life. Move to a new town. Not have any worries.

You’ll always have worries, she told him. In fact, they get bigger. All them people want money from you. A constant line of folks asking. Yelling for help.

Yeah. I’ll take my chances. They both laughed. If I won the lottery, we’d leave this town immediately.  Go someplace nice. Like Vermont. Or Maine. Maybe New Hampshire. 

I’d live in Chicago or New York. Have a place in the Hamptons. I saw it on Bravo. Real Housewives of New York City. Now, they have money. And, they have problems.

Are they worried about eating?

No.

Then they have no problems.

They drink a lot. So do the other housewives on Bravo. Orange County, the Potomac, New Jersey, Beverly Hills, Salt Lake City. And they’re always yelling at each other. Always a fight. Yeah. Maybe being rich ain’t that great, she said.

I’d like to give it a try.

They drove through town in their old rusted Buick. Looked at the American flag waving. Lights on at midnight. Wrappers from chocolate bars dancing down the street.