That’s when the magic began. The ashes were shoveled out and where the old house once stood, the community of Hestia began creating a newer, better one, and Ellen’s family stayed in the home of the Soubrettes.

The new house was almost complete, this time taller, more modern, with a chimney and one more bathroom. The shutters were painted blue, the house itself white. A beautiful picket fence bordered a newly planted garden. Ellen’s new home dazzled in the eyes of every jealous housewife living in Hestia.

The losers of the lottery began creating the pile of luxuries. Flora Myers gave her oven, Ingrid Hunt gave her plasma screen tv, etc. until all the appliances demanded by the lottery were carefully placed in the house.

Humbly, Ellen thanked her neighbors, and entered the house. Inspecting, she noted that Mrs. Stephen’s purple drapes clashed with the Mackenzie family’s leather sofa. But beggars can’t be choosers, she thought.

She placed her old blender on the kitchen counter, and so began 2010.