$50,000 answer

Amy brought home, of all things, lottery tickets with the KFC for dinner.

So we're scratching them. She had one of those crossword puzzle ones. I had the $50,000 Hold'em Poker one. I was scracthing, saw I had three of a kind on the first hand. Scratched the dealer's and saw he had only Jack high. I won! I revealed the prize--$15. I was happy. It was a little bonus.

I won nothing else on the rest of the card--there were four hands. So I give the card to Amy, and she looks at it. "Honey, that first hand prize is still covered. The $15 was for another one." So she scratches the appropriate prize. $50,000.

I had never seen my wife bounce like Tigger before with such gaiety.

I was trying to get my shoes to go verify at the quickee-mart. I couldn't believe it. Something was up. This happened to my mom and me several years ago with a Kraft promotion. Turns out the newspapers mis-printed the Kraft tickets. EVERYONE won a car. There was litigation and my mom ended up with $250 in free food coupons. (So we still won.)

"Honey," Amy says after examining the card. "That's not Jack high--that's a straight."

"I knew I missed something," I said, taking the card back from her. In fact, the dealer got a straight flush Jack High, all clubs.

At least, while eating the KFC, we all got to talk about how nice $50,000 would have been, if only for a moment.

And I never saw my wife bounce like Tigger before (kinda nice!).