Scratch my luck?

Monday, January 16, 2012

It’s amazing how this idea of being contagious has transformed my perspective, with the result that I do things which would normally be scary.

Today, for instance, I had to put gas in the van. All the pumps are prepay, and we use cash, so I went in to the gas station and asked the attendant to put 50 euros on pump 1. I pumped the gas and then went in to get my receipt. While the guy was printing it out for me, he casually asked me if I would like to “rascar la suerte” (scratch my luck), and held up a lottery ticket.

“No, no thank you,” I said. “I don’t scratch my luck. Do you know why? Because I don’t need to. I have something better than luck. My name is written in the book of life. I have eternal life!”

“Muy bien,” the attendant said, taken aback. He handed me my receipt and I walked out of the store, smiling to myself at what I had just said, shocked that it had actually come out of my mouth. Ordinarily, if such a thought had come to my mind, I would definitely not have said it. But it just sailed forth as naturally as any other kind of small talk. Yay!