When Luck Smiles

There I am. Standing in front of the entire company with another employee - a bearded guy with a black shirt. I don't know who he is, but he looks familiar. He's relatively calm considering the circumstances. I smile encouragingly at him, but wish I could be as disinterested in this as he looks. My heart races like an Olympian's. My hands sweat. My feet sweat. I shift with a volatile mixture of excitement and nervousness as I glance behind me at the prize - a brand new Harley Davidson Sportster. It's blue and silver and glimmering beautifully even under the harsh fluorescent lighting of our building. I've never won anything big like this. In an effort to calm myself, I take a deep breath, but feel no relief.

The CEO of the company stands behind me on an elevated platform and reaches into a small container to pull out the winners name. The room is silent. I hear the paper crinkling in his fingers - the sound whispering my fate in a language I don't comprehend. He speaks, "And the winner of the Harley Davidson is..."

...

...

...

"Barry Cann!"

NO FREAKING WAY!!! I clench my fists and jump up and down. Everybody is cheering. The CEO of the company extends his hand to me in congratulations. After we shake hands he hands me the keys, the title, and the owner's manual. I take it graciously and shake his hand again. I still can't believe this is happening. My body brims with adrenaline - an adrenal high unlike anything I've felt in a very long time. Matt, one of the managers in the company, holds a digital camera and asks me to get on the bike for pictures. He doesn't need to ask me to smile. I've been smiling for the past 5 minutes. Some people in the now dwindling crowd ask what I'm going to do with the bike and I say I'm probably going to sell it. Some cheer. Some boo. It's all good, though, because I am now the proud owner of this bike.

I still can't believe I won.

-Barry