1. Leni's smile
That was a long afternoon. Pretty long afternoon.
I spent a good deal of time sitting in the dressing room of a clothing store, watching my sister Leni modeling one dress after another, after another and after ten more. Then change her mind, bring a different apparel and comment that color will have a better effect on her wardrobe for this coming summer.
What I must admit is that to see her smile, to hear her voice full of enthusiasm, without ceasing to thank me for accompanying her on this shopping, was something that relieved all the boredom.
In the end, she chose five dresses, but not before making it clear that she would make some modifications at home to make them perfect.
"Thank you for coming with me, Linky! Your company is totes nice when I come to the mall. Didn't you get bored?"
"No, not at all," I lied. I'll tell that lie as many times as necessary. I'm capable of that, and I can carry all these shopping bags too... But I'm not quite able to stand the way men we meet in the halls are left admiring my sister. As you know, Leni is perhaps the most beautiful girl in the world. Dressing like this, in loose and rather short dresses, doesn't make her less flashy.
She doesn't seem to care how attractive she is for the whole universe. Or she certainly doesn't realize it.
"Besides, you helped me with the two-for-one clothes... I remember that multiplying thingy we saw in school, but I don't understand much anyway."
"Just remember that you will be given an extra apparel after having paid one. That's all."
"Always so clever!" She said with a genuine expression of surprise. "As a thank you, if I ever become a famous fashion designer, I'll make sure you don't get bored in my stores. I will put video games and comics in a seat for your use only. Do you like my idea?"
"Of course, Leni!" I would gladly be with you a whole day in a store like this. And what else will your stores have?"
"Well... They'll have... A department called "Pretty Shoes" for girls who don't have much time and want to go straight to the best, and the two-for-one dresses will come in a single package at a time, and a smoothie machine with many flavors ..."
She was silent, and exclaimed: "SMOOTHIE!" I want one! Come on; it's on me!" then taking my arm and running with me straight to her favorite coffee shop.
That's Leni, summed up in an trip to the mall.
When we finally got home, it was dinner time.
At the table Leni kept telling the rest of our large family how much she had enjoyed our trip.
"Linc was very chivalrous all the time. He waited patiently, opened the doors for me, and even tried to pay for what we drank. He was very nice!"
"And do you have money, Lincoln?" Where did you take it from?", Lynn asked incredulously.
"I'm saving it. I suppose it's something you don't do", I said.
"He, he, heeee! Say something, Lynn! answer him!", it was Lana's lively reaction.
"All right, everyone! Remember that we are having dinner, do not lose your composure", said Mom when she noticed that an argument was going to be put together. "And since they mentioned the word "money", your father and I have a surprise for you.
We all stopped our incipient discussion immediately.
"We were going to tell you right after dinner, but the excitement is actually eating us", Dad added.
"Good one, Daddy!" said Luan, showing great respect.
My father stood up, ceremoniously. He cleared his throat and said,
"I found $ 25 in the pocket of one of my pants this morning".
Lori reacted with a raised eyebrow. "And since when did you have them in those pants, Dad? I suspect it was literally dirty for days."
"That's not the point, honey. What should interest you is that, since I had covered this month's budget, I decided to invest this money in you".
"With that amount of cash you could get a decent set of test tubes, but unfortunately I have some of good quality for now", Lisa commented, but was interrupted by Lola.
"Do you think it will be only for you? Obviously he will distribute it... And it will be very little for each one of us".
"That's why I find it more profitable to invest in my current research. Not only for the family, but for the whole humanity".
"Only if it's poop!" Lana exclaimed happily, and we all reacted with a grimace.
"Easy, girls! The money is already invested... In this".
And he showed us a lot of instant lottery tickets.
"Lottery? You had never bought us lottery tickets", I said, unable to hide my disappointment. As for my dad, the feeling was the opposite.
"It's the Michigan lottery instant bingo! You can earn up to $ 30,000 right away".
Lisa sighed. "Or time can be wasted. The numbers are very unfavorable to us in the matter of probabilities."
At that moment, Lucy stood up.
"I want to try. The cards told me there was gold on my destiny."
"Then I'll get the gold!", cried Lola, jumping up. But Dad's reaction was to keep the tickets back.
"Hold on. First of all, let's finish dinner", he said.
"Eats a good idea!", said Luan with laughter.
Even before the announcement, my sisters and I had been sipping dinner. But desperation made us, in the end, gulp down what our dishes contained. The last to finish was Leni: We were waiting in the living room until she came in quiet and smiling.
"Oh, Leni! Why did you take so long? Because of your delay we haven't started", Lori said.
"I'm sorry. You know how much I like the breast. It was totes delicious. We can start, Dad!"
Mom held a bowl, and inside were all the tickets. Dad stood next to her quickly.
"Now, our beautiful model Rita will pass in front of each one of you, so you can take a ticket at random".
Mom chuckled, a little embarrassed.
The procedure ended up being less ordered than it sounded. We were almost pouncing on the bowl. I was the last to choose: a push from Lynn made me out of the fight for a few valuable seconds (even Lily won me). When I was about to get up to finally choose my ticket, Leni was in front of me, looking worried.
"Are you all right, Linky?"
And she gave me her ticket.
"Take mine, so you do not have to go fight."
"It's not necessary!" I cried, and ran to take the only one left.
I thought about that much later.
I watched as the faces of my sisters were distorted, as much of disappointment as of anger, when scraping and discovering that there were no prizes for any of them.
"Sigh," Lucy said loudly, surely as she cursed her cards.
"That's why I do not raise my expectations with regard to gambling," Lisa commented, but we didn't believe her.
In that negative mood, Leni's cheerful voice was like a light ripping a black curtain. She left us all speechless.
"Look! I scratched, and the four squares are big X's!"
The ticket she was willing to give me, more out of kindness than ingenuity, meant the jackpot. Seconds after realizing that the prize might have been mine, I began to question whether that beautiful smile was that of someone who had just won thirty thousand dollars.