Round corners and dangerous bends, I rode at break-neck speed

"IT WAS MY last twenty cents," I grumbled.

        "Well, what's the matter with that?" queried my cousin, Hoi Chin.

        "So you don't know about my 'hoodoo'?" I answered. "Right! I'll tell you................." and out poured the story. My 'hoodoo' was a bit of bad luck coming to me when I spent my last bit of money.

        It all started when I bought a raffle ticket from a Girls' School. The cost was twenty cents only. I was not at all that hopeful of obtaining a prize. So I slipped the piece of paper called the ticket between the pages of my Mathematics text book. Then I forgot all about it, untill the day of the draw.

        A few weeks after the draw, the numbers of the winning tickets were published in the local newspapers. The first went to tickets number 4444- an extraordinary number. All prizes had to be claimed before June 30th.

        Then , on the 27th June, a notice was inserted in the "SarawakTribune" which stated that the first prize was a still unclaimed. Only then did I remember my own ticket. I tried to recall where the ticket was and what the number was. At last, I was sure that the number started with 444..., and ended either with a 44 or 45. I was doubtful on this point. At the same time, I remembered putting the ticket between the folds of my Mathematics text book.

        When I discovered that my learned brother had taken that particular book, I hastily approached hin. After a heated argument, I managed to obtain an answer from him - he had thrown that precious ticket into the dust-bin, thinking that it was useless!

        Quick as lightning, I rushed to the gate. Just as I arrived at the place where the dust-bin stood, I spied the garbage-collecting truck driving away. Even before I lifted the lid to see the emptiness of the bin, I guessed that my elusive ticket was in that truck, heading for the Rubbish Disposal Dump.

        With a roar, I was off my motorbike. Round corners and dangerous bends, I rode at break-neck speed. It was an almost suicidal act for a silly prize. Ironically, I did not even know what the prize was!

        At last, I caught sight of the persued truck. Recklessly, I increased my speed even thought I was already travelling too fast. When the amazed truck driver I was chasing saw me, he quickly drove into a side lane and stopped his vehicle.

        With a screeching of burnt tyres I skidded to a halt. Quickly I explained my problem to the puzzled man. Like a human shovel, I searched throughout the truck until I found the ticket - inside a can of beans!

        Then I had a look at the number. I read "44445", and printed in big, bold letters were: "FIRST PRIZE ........................ A BIG, WALKING DOLL!"