The Lottery
THE LOTTERY – September 18, 2026 – Bend, Oregon, USA
Cade McTavish’s 7th grade math teacher believed in hands-on learning. When the class reached a unit about money, the teacher decided the best way to learn about money was to make some of it.
“You’ll each create your own pop-up store,” she told her students, as if they had won a prize. “Normally you don’t get to sell things at school, but I got special permission from the principal. On our Market Day, all the other classes will buy things from you.”
Most students in the class got busy brainstorming. Cade heard all kinds of store ideas. A bunch of kids planned to bake cookies or make friendship bracelets. A guy with a 3D printer talked about plastic dragons, tigers, and dinosaurs. Cade listened but his creativity remained unstimulated. He wanted to sell something unique, but nothing came to mind. He did not tell his parents about the pop-up store or ask for their help. He figured he would have better luck by talking with his Grandpa Jeff.
Cade spent time with Grandpa Jeff on most Saturdays. It was a welcome relief for Cade to get away from his three younger sisters and not have to worry about staying clean or watching his language. Grandpa Jeff picked him up in a vintage Camaro and usually wore a concert shirt from some rock band Cade knew only from Grandpa’s shirts. Grandpa Jeff liked keeping his remaining hair long and always carried cash instead of credit cards.
“You ready to go?” Grandpa Jeff called into Cade’s house when he arrived on the Saturday morning after the pop-up store announcement.
Cade’s mom intercepted him before he could escape out the front door. “What are you two up to today?” she asked Grandpa Jeff.
He grinned nervously under the interrogation. “Oh, you know, just looking for fun. Maybe we’ll check out some model airplanes at the park.”
Cade’s mom returned a stern look. “Don’t be filling his head with crazy ideas. And nothing dangerous.”
Grandpa Jeff raised his right hand as if to say, “I promise.” Then he gestured for Cade to follow as he hobbled toward his Camaro parked in the driveway.
As usual, they stopped first at a nearby convenience store. Cade grabbed a bag of Takis and a large Dr. Pepper. One of his favorite parts of being with Grandpa Jeff was that he got to eat whatever he wanted. Grandpa Jeff chose a drink, too, and some scratch-off lottery tickets. He pulled out a $20 bill to pay for everything.
While Grandpa Jeff chatted with the woman behind the counter, Cade studied the sign advertising the lottery tickets. It said you had to be over eighteen to play and proceeds from the tickets went to Oregon schools. Grandpa Jeff had explained the lottery before and how he was addicted to the tickets. His plan was to hit it big and buy a yacht and cruise around the world. But it did not happen that morning. He scratched off the waxy layer hiding the numbers on his tickets to discover he had not won anything.
“Next time,” Grandpa Jeff said with a shrug.
They drove from the convenience store to a city park where people were flying drones and model airplanes. Grandpa Jeff found a bench with a good view of the planes and, as he put it, “all the pretty girls jogging by” on the walking path. They sipped their drinks and people watched. Grandpa Jeff liked to point out passersby and ask Cade, “What do you think he or she is thinking about?”
Cade carefully examined faces and body language and offered a short analysis. “She’s mostly bored and hungry,” or “She looks angry, like she just broke up with her boyfriend.”
After every one of Cade’s conclusions, Grandpa Jeff would say something like, “I think you’re right. You’re a great psychologist. You know exactly how people tick.”
They were still sitting on the park bench when Cade remembered the pop-up store at school. He told Grandpa Jeff about selling something kids would want.
“I don’t know how to make anything good. And I don’t want to just bring cookies like everyone else.”
Grandpa Jeff said thoughtfully, “Maybe I’ve got something at home you can sell. We’ll take a look around.”
When they grew tired of watching drones and joggers, they drove to Grandpa Jeff’s property. He lived alone in a small, single-story house with a backyard large enough for all his tinkering projects. A detached garage sat next to the house and that was where they began their search for something to sell. The garage was loaded with car parts and fishing gear, but had nothing appealing to middle school kids.
“Let’s try the storage shed,” Grandpa Jeff suggested.
The metal shed stood behind the garage and preserved many of the treasures Grandpa Jeff collected. Dusty cardboard boxes and stacks of magazines filled shelves shoved against two of the walls. As he looked inside boxes, Grandpa Jeff told stories about why he bought the stuff as investments.
“I really thought more of this would be valuable by now. Like this box of Teenie Beanie Babies. Twenty-five years ago, people were crazy for Beanie Babies. The rare ones would go for hundreds of dollars. I bought these thinking by now they would be like gold.” Grandpa Jeff shook his head. “They’re kinda just junk, maybe worth $3 each. You can have them if you think kids at school would buy them.”
Cade looked excitedly at the little stuffed animals with Beanie Babies tags still attached. “Are you sure you don’t want them?”
“Nah, you take ‘em. They’re just collecting dust and its more trouble than it’s worth for me to sell them.”
They found a clean, plastic garbage sack and Cade filled it with the twenty Teenie Beanie Babies. As they were leaving the storage shed, Cade spotted a roll of red raffle tickets, each one printed with a different number.
“What are those for?” Cade asked.
His mind churned as Grandpa Jeff explained how some of the tickets from the giant roll had been used for a raffle giveaway of a fishing boat. “Can I have the rest of the roll?” Cade asked.
“Sure. Go ahead.”
Cade stuffed the tickets into the garbage sack. When Grandpa Jeff drove him home later that afternoon, Cade snuck into his bedroom without anyone noticing the sack. He took a closer look at the Teenie Beanie Babies and wondered how much money he could get for each one. He looked back and forth between the stuffed animals and the raffle tickets until a brilliant plan jelled together. Instead of simply selling the Beanie Babies, he would use them as prizes in his own lottery.
Cade kept the lottery idea to himself. While the other students in his math class made posters for their pop-up stores advertising cookies and 3D printed dragons, he drew dollar signs for his under-eighteen lottery extravaganza. He decided only giving the Beanie Babies as prizes would not be enough. In order to get people addicted to his lottery, he would also need to give away cash. His posters promised a huge grand prize.
On Market Day, Cade claimed his own folding table in the cafeteria before school started. He displayed the stuffed animal prizes and his lottery sign. Whenever his math teacher walked past, he flipped the sign over to show nothing but crude drawings of the Beanie Babies. But when he was left alone with only a crowd of students, he quickly explained how a $1 ticket entered them into a drawing for both the Beanie Babies and the cash grand prize. The grand prize winner would get half the money he collected.
Cade did a lot of talking as students from other classes were allowed to spend a few minutes shopping at the various tables. Everyone liked the lottery idea and they shared it with friends. By the time the lunch rush arrived, Cade did not need to do much explaining. He spent his time frantically shoving cash into a collection jar. In return, he tore tickets from his roll in half, dropping one half in a second jar and handing the other half to eager lottery participants. Kids swarmed the table shouting out things like, “Give me five!” or “I want ten!”
It was hard not to notice all the action surrounding Cade. Thirty minutes into lunch, Principal Tua wandered into the cafeteria and was drawn to the shouts and pile-up of bodies. The principal kept his hair buzzed short and wore a polo shirt decorated with the school’s logo. He liked joking around and attempted to use the latest student slang. If a student referred to Principal Tua as their friend, he considered it a great compliment.
“What do you have going on here?” Principal Tua asked as he pushed through the crowd surrounding Cade’s table.
The sign explaining the lottery lay right side up. There was no hiding the fact Cade was taking money and handing out tickets in return. He did not attempt to explain himself.
After figuring out the situation, Principal Tua said, “I thought you were selling stuff. This is supposed to be a store. You can’t have a lottery.”
Cade had worried something like this might happen and was ready with a defense. He looked innocently at Principal Tua and said, “But why not? I’m doing it to help the school. The money’s going to the teacher display board.”
The teacher display board was the principal’s pet project that no one else seemed to care about. He wanted a glass display case near the school office showing a photo of every teacher. Rather than use school budget money for the project, he thought parents might be willing to donate funds. So far, none had. Cade was the first person to mention the display board in weeks. Principal Tua’s concerned face brightened.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were helping the school. But how about calling it a raffle instead of a lottery?”
“Whatever you want,” Cade replied.
Principal Tua turned around and shouted, “Let’s all buy a raffle ticket and help the school. You can win a collectible Beanie Baby. Those will be worth a lot of money someday.”
He liked the raffle idea so much he gave Cade special permission to continue it for another week. After Market Day was over, Cade shifted his operation from the folding table in the cafeteria to his locker. He had never used his locker much, but he found it was a great place to display the Beanie Babies and store his jars of money and ripped tickets. Any time classes were not in session, kids crowded around hoping to buy into the lottery, which was only referred to as a raffle by Principal Tua.
Cade collected around $500 on Market Day and a little over $1100 over the next week, leaving him with almost exactly $1600 when he was done. He transferred the money from his locker to his bedroom without raising any suspicions. At night, when he was supposed to be sleeping, he counted the money by flashlight and wrapped rubber bands around it before tucking it discretely under his bed.
The $1600 presented a problem that would have made his math teacher proud. How was he going to divide the money? His original plan was to give away half of what he collected as a grand prize and then keep the rest. Now that Principal Tua had interfered, he had to consider an educational donation. Obviously, the principal was expecting some of the money, but they had never agreed on the amount and Cade never told anyone how much he collected.
The climactic drawing for the lottery took place on a Wednesday during lunch period. They did it outside on a metal table used for eating sack lunches in the sunshine. The drawing was not officially a school function, but practically every student was there holding a ticket or looking at tickets held in friends’ hands. Principal Tua stood next to the table like he was presiding. Cade laid all the Beanie Babies on the table’s top and then climbed up next to them so that when he stood, everyone could clearly see him. He knelt down and grabbed his jar of tickets and the first Beanie Baby, a red bear.
“Here we go! Our first winner!” Cade called.
He reached in the jar, pulled a ticket, and read the number. A girl in the surrounding crowd screeched along with her friends. She pushed her way forward to claim the bear after Cade verified her ticket. He awarded the remaining nineteen Beanie Babies in the same way. Winners celebrated like they were driving home new cars. Interest in Beanie Babies surged to levels not seen in 25 years.
“Now for the grand prize!” Cade yelled. He did not need to ask for quiet. Everyone watching naturally concentrated all their energy on whatever tickets they or their friends held. “Here we go,” Cade called, ramping up the tension. He solemnly and slowly reached into the jar, stirred the tickets, and pulled out one. “2046.”
A kid named Saul Howard yelled from the edge of the massive crowd. “That’s me! I got it! 2046!”
A path opened up for Saul to reach the table. Cade checked that his half of the ticket matched and then handed Saul a wad of bills rolled up fatter than a cardboard toilet paper tube and wrapped with a rubber band around it. Cade had seen something like it in a movie and wanted to duplicate the effect.
“That’s $700!” Cade shouted dramatically.
Saul grabbed the money and got swallowed up by students who were eager to admire the roll.
Principal Tua was still standing nearby when Cade turned over the cash prize. His face turned from confusion to near panic. He could already hear the voices of parents complaining about school sponsored gambling. He shouted to Cade over the cheering, “I thought we agreed this was a raffle. You were giving Beanie Babies away as prizes!”
“It was some of both!” Cade shouted back. Then he tossed Principal Tua another roll of bills held by a rubber band. “Here’s your cut!”
Principal Tua caught the money, unsure of just how much he was holding and how far it would go toward the display case. He did not want to make a big scene or attempt to reverse what had just happened after appearing to support it all week. He held onto the money roll and shouted at Cade, “Okay, get down from the table and put your stuff away. Let’s break up this crowd.”
Cade said nothing about the lottery to his parents, but was eager to share details with Grandpa Jeff when they met on Saturday. He began by unveiling a third money roll wrapped in a rubber band.
“Is that what you got for the Beanie Babies? How much is it?”
“Seven hundred dollars.”
“What? How’d you sell them for so much?”
Cade explained his lottery system and how he had used the roll of tickets. Then he explained the role of Principal Tua and the display board.
“Wow! You really do know how people tick,” Grandpa Jeff said in amazement.
“I only gave the principal $200 of the money. I don’t think he’s going to let me do the lottery again.”
“The lottery thing is played out. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other ways to make money. With your brain, you’re going to make a great businessman. Or better yet, a lawyer.” Grandpa Jeff rubbed his chin. “Come to think of it, you’ll probably make an even better politician. Have you ever thought about running for office?”
“You mean like student council?”
“I was thinking more like city council.”
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