Remember when?

As a boy, every month at the beginning of the month, we would gather around one evening to see if we've won the lottery. To combat businesses not paying taxes, the government has for decades introduced a system of "uniform receipts", whereby consumers are encouraged to always get a receipt from the vendor, because each receipt carries a unique set of numbers which at the end of the month also act as lottery numbers. Prizes start from NT$200 and go up to a million, and more recently ten million ( though the chances of winning are slimmer nowadays). But it was always something that brought the family together.

When dad was still alive, he was a vehement receipt collector. He would walk around, and whenever he sees in on the floor he would pick it up and take it home, proudly saying "I've just won a million!" He was careful with money, and every time we do win something, he would give it to me or to my mum. A couple of times, with winnings in the thousands, we'd even go out for a luxurious meal together.

It's been a couple of years since I last sat down, next to a big pile of rectangular receipts and carefully compared lottery numbers. Last time, dad was still around, and I remember sitting on the living room floor in the old family home, while he sat on the sofa next to me and squinted through his old-man glasses to read the numbers. Touching, fun, and at times exciting moments, especially when you are off by a number or two and so close to wining something. "better luck next time", dad would say if it was a "bad" month. Afterwards, I would ruffle through all that paper, and toss it all around in the air, pretend as if it were money bills. My fingers would smell of ink for some time afterwards. The smell would go away when I washed my hands, yet the memories remain till this day.

Since dad passed away, mum has been collecting the receipts and sending them to charitable organisations, many of which rely on this as a major source of income. One that she donates to works to provide care for physically handicapped persons, another is an orphanage in a poor part to the east of the island.

For some reason, mum suddenly had the urge to compare lottery numbers, so that's what we did tonight. Before we began, we agreed that if we were to anything, the money would still go to charity. I joked if we were to win ten million, we should at least keep ten percent! As our fingers and eyes focused on the little pieces of receipts,  we  talked about "remember when...?"

We did not win anything in the end, but we did bring back some memories of dad, and how things used to be...