You Won! Now Wait

If the winner of last Saturday’s record California lottery has a shred of decency--in addition to pending legal access to $141 million--he or she won’t claim the money for a very long time. That’s the least the fortunate soul can do for millions of less lucky Californians, who can continue dreaming about how they would spend that mountain of coins.

Right now, it’s as if someone shouted “Bingo!” We’re holding our cards while they check the numbers. Not to wish any bad luck, but if it happens that the would-be winner really doesn’t have B-15 or G-24, then our dream game continues: the debts paid, the homes designed and built, the educations and electric bills financed, the shiny vehicles purchased and the exotic places visited. It can all be savored and shared with friends and family, even strangers--until someone actually accepts that giant fake check in the stalest PR ritual of all time.

On Saturday 1,400 tickets were sold every second . We knew we’d lost--you can’t argue with that lightning statistic. Some may have come really, really close, like having one of six required numbers. Many almost wrote down 3, 22, 43, 44 and 45 with a Mega number of 8. Sure, winners must get unlisted phones, hire lawyers and accountants, confront waves of phony new friends, etc. For now, we can still use our most powerful mind tool--the imagination--until a real winner appears.

So if you’re the winner, shut up. You’ve still got 175 days to collect and a lifetime to play in the vault like Scrooge McDuck. Give us losers a few days more to pretend.