Inside the wide white walls of Virginia Lottery Office hall

a huge crowd of people gathered, and a local media crew

had also arrived, from all over the town to cheer me on.

 

The Secretary, Mrs. Rosenthal, rose from her seat and walked

to the lectern.  She reached inside her pocket, pulled out

a note and placed it on the lectern. She looked to the crowd lowering 

her face to the microphone. She then announced, “The Powerball 

lucky winner is Gopes Niraula.” As I heard my name 

 

I emerged from the back door of the room wearing a light brown

coat, a white shirt, silver-gray pants and a pair of black shoes.

The sound of cheers and shouts reached my ears.

 As I stood behind the wooden lectern, my body quivered

my hands trembled, and my eyes began to fill with tears.

 

As the Secretary lifted a giant green check for

215 million dollars and placed it on my hands,

my heartbeat quickened with excitement. I gripped

the edge of the check, held it up high and displayed

 it in front of everybody. The cameras flashes went off

their lights almost lit up the entire hall. The sound of

cheers and shouts echoed throughout the hall.

 

Later, the short-framed man from the crowd

walked up to me, he looked straight in my eye and said,

“What is going through your mind right now?”

I said I feel like I am the happiest person on the Earth.