A Lucky Number

Summary

No good deed goes unpunished. Benito, the blind Mexican harp player with a heart of gold, believes firmly that one day he will finally win the lottery. The money will enable him finally to leave America and return home to his loved ones.

Benito has been in America for a very long time and has a history of risking his own health and safety in order to help others. He lost his eyesight when he caught smallpox while nursing a friend who had the disease. His blindness did not prevent him throwing himself into the river to save the man’s baby son from drowning. But despite these acts of courage, he is still relegated to the margins of society.

Those who owe him the most repeatedly betray or spurn him. But one day Benito asks the Lady of Guadaloup for the winning lottery number—and then has a dream in which he is given a particular number. The next day he buys the ticket with this number and is convinced that this time his luck will turn. He tells of his good fortune to Vicente, who is in dire straits for cash, and shows him the lucky ticket. But when the day of the lottery draw arises, strange events occur.