A Whole Lot of Lucky Read Online Free PDF

night,
Because of Winn-Dixie.
Opal was lucky she found that dog at Winn-Dixie instead of say, Periodontics, which is some kind of dentist place. Of course, she probably would’ve shortened the name to Peri, so that wouldn’t have been a problem because it’s still cute.
    I ride my bike up and down Crape Myrtle Road, trying to think of a gross business name that Winn-Dixie could have been stuck with. The notes of a flute drift from the second-story window of the DeCamps’ house. So pretty and light, the notes fall like the cottony feathers of a dandelion. If I were friends with Emily, I would ask to sit on her front porch and listen to her flute playing and the birds, who are calling back to her.
    Boring Saturday finally comes to an end. My sheets are cool and my room is dark and it feels good to snuggle in, all nice and cozy. I rub my feet against each other to warm them up. Big elephant ears of sleep layer over me. I’m slipping into dreamville.
    Screams from downstairs shatter my ears awake.
Mom!
I jolt up in bed—heart pounding, blood surging—then I flip down and squeeze my eyes shut because robbers won’t kill me if they think I’m sleeping, but Mom is still screaming and Dad is screaming
and
crying, and I say, “God!” because I’m too scared to say a longer prayer.
    If I had my own phone, I could dial 911.
    Tears slide down my face in torrents. My throat wells up in a painful ball. I lie there, crying and awaiting my fate until I hear my dad’s low-throated chuckle, which gives way to whooping and hollering and honest-to-God, he goes right back to screaming and crying again.
    I shove off my covers and tiptoe past Libby’s room. She sleeps her baby sleep, oblivious to all the commotion below us. Annoyance creeps down the stairs with me as I make my way to the landing. Dad stands in front of the TV, dumbstruck, staring; Mom sits on the couch in her fuzzy green housecoat, rocking back and forth.
    Their faces shine when they notice me. They glow like angels. Light pours out of their eyes and off their skin, and it scares me half to death.
    I hear my voice tremble as I ask, “What’s wrong?”
    Dad’s face screws up. He cries and grabs my hands. His mouth moves but no words come out.
    â€œHailee.” Mom’s voice is hoarse. Tears have wet her cheeks; crying has turned them red.
    I’m afraid of whatever she’s going to say next.
    â€œHailee,” she croaks. “We just won the lottery!”

Chapter 4
    It can’t be true.
    I look from Mom to Dad and back to Mom. Something’s happened, something that’s turned them into crazy people.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” I ask.
    Dad bear-hugs me, and my feet leave the ground. My legs flap like noodles. “We won! We won! We won the lottery!”
    My brain’s confused, sloshing around in my skull with all of Dad’s jostling. Wriggling out of his arms, I drop my feet to the floor and go to my mother. I kneel in front of the nappy brown couch and peer into her eyes for signs of crazy. “Is he right?”
    Mom stretches out her arms and puts both hands on my shoulders, including the one holding a used tissue, but I don’t yank away because this is important. “Yourdad,” she starts, then dabs at her nose with the wet Kleenex. “Your dad
bought the winning ticket!”
    â€œNO WAY!” But I know it’s YES WAY! I jump up and down, knocking into the table and spilling Mom’s coffee on it, but who cares anyway because we can just buy a new one. “OHMYGOSH! WE WON THE LOTTERY!” My fists pump up and down. I hop on the couch and do a little jig, then jump off, grab Dad’s hands, and whirl him around like ring-around-the-rosie. Flinging him across the room, I slide into some dance moves. “We’re rich! We’re rich! We’re really, really rich!”
    Then it hits me for real. I buzz in circles around the room