Sadly, this morning held no morsels.
She closed the lid quietly, not wanting to alert anyone and cause trouble. She was about to leave, when, from underneath the bin, something colorful caught her eye.
She stepped down from her box and knelt down, touched the colorful paper with her fingers. She tugged it out from underneath the bin.
It was a Norville Co. Lottery Scratch-Off. "Get 5 Norvilles in a rowen; WINEN BIGEN!" It said, with a sample icon of the tail's visage to look for behind the carbon veil.
It was a fresh card, too. Well, mostly. One panel had a scratch across it already. But, even in just that little sliver, she could see the white and a bit of black.
She slipped off her shoe to dig the quarter she'd hid in the worn lining on the side. Pinning the paper to the wall like the bullies did to her, she pressed the edge of the quarter to the sheet, and rubbed.
As the flakes of carbon sloughed away, the icon underneath was revealed: Just as at the top of the sheet, the tail was popped up, with a green backdrop behind him.
She moved the quarter to the next panel over and scratched. Why not? Finders keepers. These were dumb but in the moment, it distracted her from her growling tummy.
As she wiped away the next panel, lo and behold: she uncovered another tail, just like the first.
Well that was a coincidence. Nothing more.
She moved the quarter to the third panel, scratching its itch away. And as she did, revealing a bit of white, she paused.
...Nah, surely this was a rouse. Another panel probably looks very similar, to get people excited.
She wiped away more, and, despite her leaded thoughts, yet another Norville appeared to her, cheerily perked.
Her heart started to skip beats, and then once it acquired its rhythm again it sped the tempo up quite a bit.
But surely this was a rouse, too. Just another way to make it exciting. The next one would be a picture of a rock, for sure.
She almost didn't want to do it, but eventually she wanted to prove herself right.
She tapped the edge of the coin to the panel, but then it slipped from between her pads, letting out a tinny ring as it skipped a couple times along the pavement, before falling still.
She bent down and retrieved it, almost dropping it again while she stood back up.
She let out a sharp huff from her nostrils, pressed the coin to the panel, and rubbed.
She closed her eyes. Fervently she scraped th epaper until she couldn't feel any more carbon on the panel.
Gritting her teeth, she opened her eyes.
Four. Four happy little tails, all in a line, smiled back at her.
It wasn't until her vision started getting sparkly that she realized she was holding in her breath. She let it out and eventually found a rhythm again, just like with her heartbeat.
One last square remained.
For a while, she stared at it.
Her trance was only broken when an unmuffled car suddenly prattled by, most assuredly so cool.
She pinched the scratch-off card between her fingers and stepped away from the wall, clenching her coin in the other hand. The foul, acrid air of the dumpster was getting to her.
After a few paces, and when she felt a breeze against her knees, she broke her pinch apart.
The card whisked away behind her.
It was for the better. Were she to scratch that last panel away, the dud rock would surely be there to mock her.
But, anyone else with more fortune than her could find it, and surely in their hands a fifth, cheerful tail would be waiting for them...
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A gift for the sweet and lovable \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Please be sure to check out the other posts as well:
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(Others Pending)
Lucky is \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Norville is my tail