Schuyler Square Day 137 Winning the Lottery Would Be a Lot Easier Than Working for a Living

Mindy bought five quick picks and two scratch off tickets on her way home from the chemical plant. In spite of what she’d told Bo about being an intrepid reporter, she was really getting pretty sick and tired of working for a living. Life would be so much simpler if she could just connect with the big bucks of the lottery and retire to some place like Malibu or Maine. The prize pool was for over $200 million this week. That, Mindy thought as she pulled into the newspaper’s parking lot, was a lot more than she was ever going to get in her pension from the Schuyler Square Times.

“So what did you find out?” Bo questioned the moment she got back to the newsroom.

“Not much,” Mindy admitted. “No one was there except the receptionist and she didn’t want to talk to the press.”

“After you left I did a little digging,” Bo informed her, “and I learned some interesting things.”

Mindy was impressed. “I didn’t know you were interested in being a bona fide journalist.”

“Hey, these days you have to be interested in being everything. Did you know that since Kutrate Kemicals opened in Schuyler Square the hospital has seen almost a 50% increase in lung complaints?”

“Where’d you find that out? The newspaper didn’t print that.”

“No, but I have a friend who works at the hospital and she told me. The doctors think the chemicals are making everyone sick.”

“Have they reported Kutrate Kemicals to the government?”

“My friend said it hasn’t gotten that far because someone at the chemical plant is paying off the big wigs at the hospital.”

“That’s terrible,” Mindy said.

“Are you going to do a story on it?”

“Of course I am! But we’re going to have to find out a lot more information. Would you ask your friend what else she knows about Kutrate Kemicals?”

“Sure.”

“And maybe you could go out there and snap a few pictures,” Mindy suggested.

“Of what?” Bo asked.

“Of whatever you find,” Mindy replied, trying not to sound impatient. She kept on waiting for the story that would be her ticket out of Schuyler Square. Maybe finally, this was it. A chemical plant that was polluting an entire town. She could almost smell the Pulitzer with her name on it.

“What are you going to do?”

Mindy considered the question. “I think I’m going to get a job at Kutrate Kemicals.”

Bo laughed. “Doing what?”

“Whatever I can find,” Mindy replied.