'Doctor Koala! Doctor Koala!' Claire cried as she hurried over to his tree just as he was about to leave to make his daily rounds.
'Claire, what are you doing here? I said I'd visit you today. Oh no, are those pains worse again?'
'No, no, they're almost gone. I just had to tell you about a dream I had,' Claire said excitedly.
'Nightmares, huh? Well, alcohol can have that effect, you know.'
'No, no, Doc. It wasn't a nightmare. It was about those numbers for that game.'
'Oh yes, the lottery numbers. Well, we already have the numbers we're going to play. 5, 33, 9, and three more. They're on this paper,' he said, reaching into his pocket and taking it out, '21, 3 and 27. That's the six of them.'
'33, yes, but not the other five.' Claire corrected him.
'What are you talking about, Claire?' Doctor Koala asked, puzzled.
'Well, let me tell you about my dream. I was sitting on the ground, leaning up against my tree, and dozing…'
'Claire! You know you shouldn't sleep on the ground! Those pains might come back!' Doctor Koala scolded her.
'No, no, Doctor. I was sleeping on my branch, as always, but in my dream, I was dozing, sitting on the ground,' she explained.
'Oh, I see,' her physician muttered in a calmer tone.
'As I was saying, in my dream, I was sitting there, my back against the tree-trunk, dozing, then I opened my eyes – in the dream, I opened my eyes – and saw a golden leaf gently falling to the ground.'
'And...?' Doctor Koala inquired.
'…And there was a number on that leaf. The number 47.' Claire continued. 'Then, as soon as it reached the ground, another leaf began to fall from a branch. It was also golden, and the number on it was 4. Then another fell, and it had 33 on it. That's why I said that 33 was a good number for us.'
'Go on,' said Doctor Koala, now visibly intrigued.
'Well, three more leaves fell, all were golden, each had a number. One had number 7, the next, 41, and the last was 25. I wrote them all down as soon as I woke up. Here they are.' She pulled a small piece of paper out of the bib pocket of her overalls, and handed it to him.
'Mmm. 47, 4, 33, 41, 25, 7. Six numbers in all. Quite interesting, to be sure,' Doctor Koala murmured. 'Claire, I'm going to confer with the Judge and Sticky. I'm pretty sure they will agree with me. That dream of yours has all the hallmarks of something magical. I think it won't be hard to convince them that these are the numbers we should play!'
'Well, I don't know, but that was the dream, and it was so beautiful… those golden leaves falling right down in front of me! I had the feeling that the dream was magical, just as you said!'
'I thank you very much for coming over, Claire. I've got a better feeling about this lottery now. Let's hope that the magic becomes reality!'
'Yes, wouldn't that be nice?' Claire added.
'Well, as long as you're feeling better today, I guess I won't have to visit you. But I've been thinking about what we can do about that problem of yours,' said the doctor, lowering his voice discreetly so that no passersby could hear. 'I'll get back to you in a few days. I've got an idea, but have to give it some more thought.'
'Oh, thank you so much, Doctor. I'll be awaiting your visit. And I promise I'll only drink water till then,' she said with a smile.
'Good girl!' Doctor Koala chuckled. 'I'll see you in a couple of days, then. Got to be off for my rounds now. Have a good day. And thanks so much for telling me that dream!'
***
Around noon, Doctor Koala stopped by Judge Grandaddy's tree. Sticky was already there.
'Mr. Johnson will be here tomorrow, and we'll be ready. I think we have some pretty good numbers,' Sticky remarked.
'Forget those numbers. Here are the numbers we're going to play,' the doctor said, placing the list of Claire's 'magical' numbers on the table in front of them. He then went on to tell them about her dream, of the numbers engraved on the gently falling golden leaves.
'My word!' Sticky exclaimed. 'That is a remarkable story. Why, I do believe we should play these. What do you think, Grandaddy?'
'Sounds good to me. Claire always was able to see more than anybody else. Do you remember a few years ago, when she had that dream that koalas were losing consciousness and falling out of their branches, dead as doornails?'
'Yes, indeed I do,' Doctor Koala answered. 'It was only one week later that the wet tail epidemic struck, and that is exactly what happened. They began falling like flies.'
'What a terrible time that was,' said Sticky sadly, 'but we must look towards the future, and perhaps these numbers will be a good beginning.'
'It's settled, then. These are the numbers we will play,' Grandaddy stated firmly.