"Max, you give it a try," said Dad.
Max stood up. He pointed his finger to the dice on the table. "Randamatta, cantata – 6 and 6."
Then he moved over to the table and rolled the dice. They both landed on six.
"Great job, Max!" said Dad with a huge smile on his face. He looked over to Justin and Alex, neither of who were paying attention.
"Alex! You try," said Dad, encouragingly yet surprisingly.
Alex yawned and leaned over to the table. "Randamatta, cantata – Jake will pick me over Gigi."
There was a bright light.
"What did you do?" asked Dad sternly.
"I just made Jake go
out with me instead of Gigi," said Alex, smiling. "I did well,
didn't I?"
"You were supposed to make the dice go to the
number you wanted," said Dad, "lesson's over. Here's your
homework."
The dad handed out some sheets of paper and led the kids out into the family room.
Alex ran to the couch to turn on the TV. There was a commercial on for a contest.
"And when the winner's name gets picked out of the bubble, they will get to meet the President of the United States!"
Alex sighed. "I can't believe these things," said Alex, "they never are actually real. It's so annoying."
When she turned the TV off, she grinned.
"Dad, can I send in our family's name?" she asked.
"Sure," said Dad, "I would like to meet our president."
"Fine with me,"
said Mom, "and I'm sure Justin would be thrilled to meet part of
our country's government!"
"The nerd," whispered Alex
under her breath.
A few days later, Alex watched the results on TV.
"And the winner is," said the person, dipping her hand into the big wheel.
"Randamatta, cantata - Russo family NY," whispered Alex.
"The Russo family!" screamed the woman into the camera, "if you are watching this - your tickets are being sent now to your house!"