Gifted: Finders Keepers by Marilyn Kaye Page A

lock of hair out of his eyes. ‘Well, a few days before my father had his accident, I was in a shop with him. And my dad bought a lottery ticket. I don’t know why – he didn’t usually buy lottery tickets. Maybe he just felt lucky . . .’ His voice trailed off.
    ‘Go on,’ the veiled woman said.
    Stevie sighed.‘The day the winning numbers were announced, he was at work. He called home, all excited, and told my mother he’d won! And the jackpot was two million dollars!’
    Ken gasped. He knew about the weekly lottery, of course, but he’d never bought a ticket. And he’d never known or met anyone who had actually won it.
    Stevie continued. ‘But . . . he was in an accident on the way home. He died right away. And we don’t know where the ticket is.’
    ‘Maybe it was in his pocket,’ Ken suggested.
    ‘No, we thought of that. But the police only found his wallet.’
    ‘Maybe someone else found the ticket and took it,’ Dahlia said.
    Again Stevie shook his head. ‘No one ever claimed the prize. We think the ticket is somewhere in the house, but we’ve searched everywhere and we can’t find it.’
    ‘Oh, well,’ Dahlia said. ‘Who needs two million dollars anyway?’
    ‘We do,’ Stevie said simply. ‘Well, we don’t need that much, but we need money. you see, my father didn’t have any life insurance. Or any savings. I’ve got two little sisters and one of them isn’t even school age, so my mother has to stay at home and take care of her. When I get home I mind her, and Mom goes to clean other people’s houses. But she doesn’t make much money, and we can’t pay the rent on our house. The landlord says we have one more month, and then he’s throwing us out.’
    It was a long speech for a young boy, and it couldn’t have been an easy one for him to make. For a moment, everyone was silent.
    Finally, the medium spoke. ‘You want to ask your father where he put the lottery ticket.’
    Stevie nodded. ‘I have to help my family. I don’t want us to end up homeless.’
    Ken was overcome. What a burden for a kid to carry on his shoulders.
    ‘Then we need to reach your father,’ Cassandra said. ‘And we have to make contact within a month. I suggest we get started.’ She gazed around the table.
    ‘Please join hands and close your eyes. The seance begins.’

 
C HAPTER S IX

    E VERYONE’S EYES WERE CLOSED – except Amanda’s. She didn’t want to miss a thing.
    Ken had obeyed the medium’s instructions, which was fortunate for Amanda, because he wouldn’t be able to see how she was staring at him. He really was so good-looking. And even though he didn’t play soccer any more, he still looked like an athlete. She’d been after him for ages, and now they could be on the verge of a real relationship! A happy little thrill rushed through her. Even the prospect of a hospital stay and an operation didn’t upset her as much now.
    The medium spoke.
    ‘We have come together to seek advice from those who have left us behind,’ she intoned.
    Amanda envisioned herself sitting up in bed wearing her new lacy pale blue nightgown, her hair pulled back with a matching headband, smiling as Ken walked into her room. Bearing armfuls of flowers, of course. Maybe a box of chocolates. She didn’t mind giving up her tonsils at all if it meant getting a relationship with Ken started.
    As for this seance thing, she wasn’t sure what she thought about it. The medium looked spooky, but she spoke nicely to everyone. That Dahlia woman, with her crazy clothes and make-up, was seriously goofy. Margaret . . . she was just plain sad. And not just because her mother had recently died. She looked terrible, in a bulky grey jumper that was too big for her. It hung over a long, wrinkled, faded black skirt. You couldn’t even tell what kind of figure she had. And that hair – had the woman ever been to a salon? OK, maybe not lately, because she was mourning her mother . . . but that hair looked like it had never been