Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Readers Guide for Lottery
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
About the Author
Praise for Lottery
“This wonderful first novel is about a guy who starts off with all the chips stacked against him and still comes out a winner. It’s an underdog novel, and the underdog is a most satisfying hero, for more than any other protagonist, the underdog is the one we love to love. Perry L. Crandall, the underdog of Lottery, is profoundly lovable. Patricia Wood’s portrait of Perry is so vivid and funny and poignant and joyful that it avoids the disappointing flatness of the predictable. Perry may be slow, but his motives are absolutely good. He has the wisdom of Solomon and the heart of a lion, and his decision about what to do with his winnings, while it may not surprise readers, still feels satisfying. Perry L. Crandall is the thinking man’s guide to a happy life.”—The Washington Post
“Patricia Wood asks readers to experience life in an unexpected, sometimes uncomfortable, often humorous way. The consistent voice and emotional logic of the first-person narration anchors readers securely in Perry’s world, gently prodding them to reexamine intelligence, capability, and at what point money affects society’s perceptions. Lottery simply reads like a real story about real people in the best possible way, leaving readers with a memorable character whose voice and world linger in one’s imagination.”—The Miami Herald
“Lottery is a compassionate look at the triumphs and tragedies in Per’s life. It has an engrossing story to tell.”—The Sunday Oregonian
“In Lottery, Patricia Wood has created an altogether endearing character swept up in the most extreme of situations. A testament to the transcendence of friendship and the redemptive power of love, this startling novel is at once funny and poignant. Fans of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon would do well to pick up this captivating debut. I loved it!” —Martha O’Connor
“When he wins the lottery, Perry suddenly faces a new set of challenges: What to do? Whom to trust? As Perry sets about living the life of a winner, he creates his family of choice, drawing around him a circle of loving friends. Wood makes us wonder if this will be enough to protect him from his unsavory relatives, but this is a tale of luck—and love. ‘One word at a time,’ his Gram tells him, and Lottery is a reminder of the power of that—the power of the perfect, simple word.”
—The Times-Picayune
“Lottery’s winning narrator [is] wise beyond expectations. But there’s more going on here than just giving readers some inside scoops on the world of lottery winners and the mentally challenged. Lottery, thanks to the stylistic constraints Wood puts on herself throughout the novel, also serves as a reminder that simple declarative sentences can do the trick in evoking a highly unusual view of the world—Perry’s view.”
—The Seattle Times
“Patricia Wood’s vivid portrayal of Perry captures the reality of a life lived with cognitive disabilities. Perry is constantly belittled by those who think he’s incapable of doing almost anything. At the same time he is supported by those who believe in him, what he can do, and who he can be. Lottery does a great job of showing how natural supports, such as friendships and love, make a difference in the lives of those with cognitive disabilities—just as they do in all our lives.”
—Steven E. Brown Ph.D., assistant professor, University of Hawaii, Center on Disability Studies; cofounder, Institute on Disability Culture; and author ofMovie Stars and Sensuous Scars: Essays on the Journey from Disability Shame to Disability Pride
“Wood keeps the reader guessing as to how the story will end, and the resolution is satisfying. She meets her goal of portraying a mentally challenged person as a fully realized, functioning human being. Perry’s worldview is so charming and fair that by the end, you might think he’s the smartest character in the whole book.”—Library Journal
"In her debut novel, Patricia Wood defines poignancy in words of one syllable. Lottery is solid gold.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard
“Wood’s light humor and likable narrator should have mass appeal.”
—Publishers Weekly
"[An] irresistible debut novel about what makes people good or bad, smart or stupid.”—Good Housekeeping
"Fear not: This novel about a mildly retarded man who wins the Washington State Lottery is no Forrest Gump retread—we much prefer this (admittedly folksy) narrator to Tom Hanks as a mentally challenged Zelig. Patricia Wood’s mentor, Paul Theroux, lent his literary wisdom to a book that manages to be heartfelt and totally not corny.”—New York
“Lottery is a compelling and beautifully written story that will show you how it’s possible to have a low score on an intelligence test and still be a genius at understanding other people’s feelings and motivations. And you’ll learn that having above-average intelligence may mean less than finding happiness with yourself, and the people around you. Lottery is a novel, but it reads like it really happened, right next door to you.”
—John Elder Robison, author ofLook Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
“A sweetly satisfying story.”—The Sacramento Bee
“Wood’s debut is a poignant page-turner . . . a sweet read about money, relationships, and life.”—OK!
“Sometimes, we all need a little hope. That’s exactly what Patricia Wood offers in her debut novel, Lottery.”—Asbury Park Press
“[Patricia Wood’s] debut novel is a warm tribute to the power of simple wisdom and honest-to-goodness goodness.”—Honolulu Weekly
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2007 by Patricia Wood.
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eISBN : 978-0-399-15449-2
Wood, Patricia, date.
Lottery/Patricia Wood.
p. cm.
1. People with mental disabilities—Fiction. 2. Lottery winners—Fiction. 3. Self-realization—
Fiction. 4. Washington (State)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.O638L
813’.6—dc22
http://us.penguingroup.com
This novel is dedicated to my father and mother,
Ragnar J. Dahl and Bernice J. Dahl,
and
Airborne the Wonder Horse,
without whom I would never have met my friends and mentors
Paul Theroux and Sheila Donnelly Theroux.
Ordinary riches can be stolen: real riches cannot.
Oscar Wilde
Prologue
My name is Perry L. Crandall and I am not retarded.
Gram always told me the L stood for Lucky.
"Mister Perry Lucky Crandall, quit your bellyaching!” she would scold. “You got two good eyes, two good legs, and you’re honest as the day is long.” She always called me lucky and honest.
Being honest means you don’t know any better.
My cousin-brother John called me lucky too, but he always snickered hard after he said it.
“You sure are a lucky bastard. No high-pressure job, no mortgage, and no worries. Yeah, you’re lucky all right.” Then he would look at his wife and laugh harder. He is a lawyer.
John said lawyers get people out of trouble. Gram said lawyers get people into trouble. She ought to know. It was a lawyer who gave her the crappy advice on what to do after Gramp died.
I am thirty-two years old and I am not retarded. You have to have an IQ number less than 75 to be retarded. I read that in Reader ’s Digest. I am not. Mine is 76.
“You have two good ears, Perry. Two! Count ’em!” Gram would hold my chin and cheeks between her fingers so tight that my lips would feel like a fish. She stopped doing that because of evil arthritis. Arthritis is when you have to eat Aleve or Bayer and rub Bengay.
“You’re lucky,” she said. “No evil arthritis for you. You’re a lucky, lucky boy.”
I am lucky. I know this because I am not retarded.
I know this because I have two good arms.
And I know this because I won twelve million dollars in the Washington State Lottery.
1
I write things down so I do not forget.
"Writing helps you remember. It helps you think, Perry, and that’s a good thing,” Gram said.
“You’re only slow.” That’s what my old teacher Miss Elk said. “Just a little slow, Perry.”
The other kids had different names for me.
Moron. Idiot. Retard.
Miss Elk told them to be nice. She said I was not any of those things.
“Don’t you pay any attention to them, Perry,” Gram told me when I cried. “Those other kids are just too goddamned fast. If you want to remember, you write it down in your notebook. See . . . I’m not slow. I’m old. I have to write things down,” she said. “People treat you the same when you’re old as when you’re slow.”
Slow means you get to a place later than fast people.
Gram had me do a word a day in the dictionary since I was little.
“One word, Perry. That’s the goddamned key. One word at a time.”
Goddamned is an adjective, like “I’ll be goddamned!” Gram will be reading something in the newspaper and it will just come out all by itself. Out of the blue. “Goddamn.” Or sometimes “Goddamned. ” Or even “Goddamn it.”
At nine, I was on page eight of our dictionary.
“Active. Change, taking part.” Reading is hard. Like riding my bike up a hill. I have to push to keep going.
“Sound it out, Perry.” Gram chews the inside of her lip when she concentrates.
“Squiggle vooollll . . . caaaa . . . nooo . . .” It takes me a long time to figure out that word.
“That squiggle thing means ‘related to.’ Remember Mount Saint Helens?” Gram has a good memory for an old person and knows everything. On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens blew up. Three days after my birthday.
“Ashes from breakfast to Sunday!” Gram hollered. “Breakfast to Sunday!”
The ashes were gray sand that got in my mouth when I went outside, just like the stuff Doctor Reddy used when he cleaned my teeth.
“What’s breakfast to Sunday?” I asked.
“Don’t be smart.” Gram always cautioned me about being smart.
At ten, I was still in the A’s. Gram and I sat down and added it up. Our dictionary has 75,000 words and 852 pages. If I did one word a day, it would take me 205 years to finish. At three words, it would take 51 years. If I did five words, it would take 12 years and 6 months to get through the whole book. I wrote this all down. It is true because calculators do not lie and we used a calculator. Gram said we needed to rethink.
“Does that mean we made a mistake?” I asked.
“No, it’s not a mistake to rethink. Rethink means you get to change your mind. You’re never wrong if you just change your mind.” Gram clapped her hands together to get my attention and make sure I was listening. “Pick up the pace, Perry,” she said. “We have to pick up the pace.”
That is when we got our subscription to Reader’s Digest. We bought it from a girl who needed money for her school band to go to Florida.
“This is better than chocolate bars!” Gram was excited when the first one came. “Word Power! Here you go, Perry!”
It was the February issue and had hearts on the cover. We saved every copy that came in the mail. I remember I was on the word auditor. An auditor is a listener. It says so in the dictionary and in Reader’s Digest Word Power. Answer D. A listener. I decided right then to be an auditor. Answer D. I remember this.
We picked up the pace and by the time I turned thirty-one, I was on page 337. Gram was right. That day my words were herd, herder, herdsman, here, hereabouts, and hereafter. Hereafter means future.
“You have to think of your future!” Gram warns about the future each time I deposit my check in the bank. Half in checking and half in savings. For my future.
“It is very important to think of your future, Perry,” she tells me, “because at some point it becomes your past. You remember that!”
My best friend, Keith, agrees with everything Gram says.
"That L. It sure does stand
for Lucky, Per.” Keith drinks beer wrapped in a brown paper sack and calls me Per for short. He works with Manuel, Gary, and me at Holsted’s Marine Supply. I have worked for Gary Holsted since I was sixteen years old.
Keith is older and bigger than me. I do not call him fat because that would not be nice. He cannot help being older. I can always tell how old people are by the songs they like. For example, Gary and Keith like the Beatles, so they are both older than me. Gram likes songs you never hear anymore, like “Hungry for Love” by Patsy Cline and “Always” by somebody else who is dead. If the songs you like are all by dead people, then you are really old.
I like every kind of music. Keith does not. He goes crazy when Manuel messes with the radio at work.
“Who put this rap crap on? Too much static! The reception is shit! Keep it on oldies but goodies.” Keith has to change it back with foil and a screwdriver because of the reception. Static is when somebody else plays music you do not like and you change it because of reception.
Before Holsted’s, I learned reading, writing, and math from Gram and boat stuff from Gramp. After he died, I had to get a job for money. I remember everything Gramp showed me about boats and sailing. Our family used to own the boatyard next to Holsted’s.
“It’s a complicated situation.” Whenever Gram says this, her eyes get all hard and dark like two black olives, or like when you try to look through that tiny hole in the door at night. That is not a smart thing to do because it is dark at night and you cannot see very well.
Just before he died, Gramp took out a loan for a hoist for the yard.
A loan is when someone gives you money then takes collateral and advantage. After that, you drop dead of a stroke by the hand of God.
A hoist lifts boats up in the air and costs as much as a boatyard.
That is what the bank said.
2
Gram says I have to be careful. "You’re suggestible, Perry.”
"What’s suggestible?” I ask.
"It means you do whatever people ask you to do.”
“But I’m supposed to.” I always get in trouble if I do not do what Gram says.
“No. There are people you listen to, and others you don’t. You have to be able to tell the difference.” Gram slaps the kitchen table hard with her hand and makes me jump.