*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events as told to me by a family friend who experienced them firsthand; used with permission.
A family friend was in dire straits. His wife threw him out of the house because she didn't like the birthday and anniversary gifts he bought her. The presents weren't luxurious enough. They weren't expensive enough. Worst of all, they weren't plentiful enough.
He told his best friend and his best friend's wife about his situation. He didn't know what else to do because he had nowhere to stay. His best friend was the kind of person who would give anyone the shirt off his back.
Fortunately, the man's best friend and his best friend's wife didn't think twice about helping him. They took him into their household and told him he could stay as long as he needed to stay to get back on his feet. When he didn't have enough money to pay his bills, his friends let him borrow the money. When he couldn't repay their generous loan, they told him to consider it a gift.
He lived with his friends, and he ate dinner with them every night. He didn't pay them a single red cent, either. How could he? He didn't have any money to spare.
Despite his lack of funds, he always scrounged up enough money for one thing: playing the lottery. He was an avid lottery player.
As he filled out his lottery cards one night after dinner, he turned to his friends and said, "If I ever win the lottery, you will never want for anything ever again. I will take care of you and your wife. You're like family to me. In fact, if I win the big jackpot, I'm splitting it with you 50/50. I insist."
Little did any of them imagine what would happen next. The man won the lottery. In fact, he won the big jackpot of five million dollars. He was thrilled. Who wouldn't be? Most people I know play the lottery for years without a big payoff.
His friends were thrilled, too. After all, he'd told them he wanted to split the jackpot with them if he ever won, and now he was the winner. Surely they would have enough money to pay off their hefty mortgage, take a dream vacation, and still have enough left over to fund their early retirement. Life was good. Or so they thought.
The winner collected his lottery jackpot several weeks later. He moved out of his friend's house, leaving him and his wife with nothing. The man and his wife, who had been so generous with their home, food, money, and resources, never saw their lottery-winner friend again.
He didn't split his lottery winnings; he didn't even pay his friends back for their generosity. Instead, he went back to his wife, who was more than happy to take him back now that her husband was wealthy enough to afford all the birthday and anniversary gifts she wanted.