The Lucky Recipient

Knock-knock. A quick two knocks on my front door. I recognize it as the UPS driver’s signature knock. I check my watch and it says 7:45am. “Pretty early for a delivery,” I say to myself. I turn off the TV and get off the couch to check the front porch.

I open my front door and see one of those yellow orange shipping envelopes on my door mat. I pick it up to examine it. I’m not expecting a package, but this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve not remembered ordering something online late at night while in an altered state. It’s addressed to me, but that’s all I can figure out from the shipping label.

I bring the package inside and open it. It’s a small black notebook. I open the book and notice there’s writing on the first page. Someone else’s handwriting. What in the heck did I order?

I check my watch again. I need to get ready for work. I put the book back in the envelope and toss it onto my coffee table. I can take a look at it again after work.

I finally get home from a non-stop day of work around 9pm. I turn on the TV and it’s still on the sports channel from this morning. I grab a drink from the kitchen and go to place it down on the coffee table when I see the envelope with the black notebook again. I had completely forgotten about it. I leave my drink on the coffee table and grab the notebook out of the envelope and sit down onto my couch.

I open the book again and read the first page.

EARLY ACTION EAST COAST GAME 7-4

What does this mean? Was this person keeping track of their favorite team? Small scoring numbers, a little high for soccer or hockey, so I’m guessing baseball. My thoughts are interrupted by a sportscaster on TV. “Time to catch you up on the results of early action today. On the east coast, another divisional home game loss, 7 – 4, extending the at-home win drought to 5.”

That’s weird. There’s nothing else written on this page, so I turn to the next one in the notebook.

CENTRAL DIV. CROSS TOWN RIVALS 0-1 EXTRA INNINGS

I look up at the TV just as they’re showing the last highlights for east coast game. A different sportscaster starts talking this time. “Over in the Central Division, the cross-town rivalry was scoreless into the tenth inning until a walk-off home run ended the game.”

I turn another page in the notebook.

CALIFORNIA POSTPONED

The first sportscaster comes on again, “The west coast game is officially postponed due to weather. They’re hoping to make it up tomorrow.”

This is impossible. I quickly go through the rest of the notebook. More baseball scores. Other scores that are lower. Other scores that are much higher. None of the scores have any team names, times, or days listed. Just weird descriptions like the first three pages. Only the second to last page of the notebook is different.

EURO WHEEL 15 36 27 3 16 10 18 22

I can figure that out later. Right now, I have to decipher the other pages to figure out which games are being predicted. I look around my living room for my laptop and see it on the floor near an outlet plugged into a charger. I grab it, open it, and put in my password to unlock it. I open a web browser and go to a casino website. I’ve used this online casino before to bet on sports games, hopefully there’s still some money in my account. I log into my account and do the cell phone code thing. I click on the picture on the website for sports betting. While I’m waiting for that page to load, I look back at the small black notebook. I need to find the easiest game to decipher. I look back to the website and see a new message.

"Sports Betting Temporarily Unavailable While We Update Our System. Please try one of our casino games."

It doesn’t say how long sports betting will be unavailable. I refresh the page a few times to see if the message changes, it doesn’t. I notice something else; I only have $10 dollars in my account. To really make some money I’ll have to find a game where the winner has really long odds, and then use my winnings to bet on other games. I begin scrolling down the page of suggested casino games, wondering if I’ll even be able to bet on tonight’s games. One of the games grabs my attention – Live Casino European Roulette. Is that what the book meant by Euro Wheel? I click on the game. The only stakes available at this table are $1 - $100, which is fine since I only have $10 to wager.

The screen loads, and I can see an overhead shot of a roulette table. The dealer spins the white ball in the spinning roulette wheel and the words “NO MORE BETS” flashes on the screen. I watch the ball spin around the outside of the roulette wheel, drop into the part of the wheel where the numbers are, bounce around and finally stop on 15.

Here goes nothing. I place a $10 bet on 36 and wait. The dealer spins the ball and I watch it go around. It lands on 36! The screen shows me a message “WINNER! $350!” I now have $360 in my account. I quickly try to bet it all on 27 but a warning message appears saying “Maximum Bet: $100.” OK, that will be fine. I place the $100 bet and wait.

"WINNER! $3500!"

I’m sitting on the edge of the couch cushion now. Should I keep going? Is the site going to cut me off if I win too much? Will the casino think I’ve found some way to cheat if I keep winning like this? I make a split-second decision to bet $100 on 27 and $100 on 3. Maybe it’ll look more believable if I lose some bets. I don’t know. I do know if this goes the way I hope it will, my bets will receive some kind of attention.

"WINNER! 3500!"

I bet $100 on 3 and on 16 and wait.

"WINNER! 3500!"

I have no intention of stopping. I bet $100 on 16 and 10 and win. $100 on 10 and 18, another win. $100 on 18 and 22, another win. I decide to place another bet, $100 on 22. I watch the ball go around the wheel. It lands on 17. My account now has $20760 in it. I close the roulette window and click on the accounting menu. I need to get this money out now before the casino dreams up a reason to not give it to me. Requesting a check or wire transfer are bad ideas. I realize this is the first time I’ve ever tried to transfer money out of this casino. I’ve only ever deposited money before. I remember I linked a bitcoin account to this site to deposit money in the past. I choose bitcoin to transfer the money out. The site claims the transfer is complete. I log into my bitcoin account in a different browser window and confirm it. I just made $20760 thanks to a small black notebook that appeared out of nowhere.

I look back at the notebook which is now next to me on the couch. I open it up again to a random page. The words have changed to a language I don’t understand. It’s the same on every page, strange combinations of handwritten letters with numbers below them. When did this happen? What is happening? As I’m frantically turning pages in the book a folded piece of paper falls out of it. I put down the book and pick up the paper. I unfold it to discover it’s a pre-paid UPS packing slip to someone in Croatia. That must be how this small black notebook got sent to me.

It’s too late to send the book out tonight. I’ll have to find a UPS store on my way to work tomorrow. The thought of hanging onto the book and attempting to translate the new predictions crosses my mind. I quickly dismiss it. There’s some kind of strange force at play here. I’m $20000 richer, and the least I can do is show my thanks by sending the small black notebook to the next lucky recipient.