On Moonday afternoon, several koalas who were sitting on high branches in their trees noticed Mr. Johnson's Land Rover in the distance to the south; he was obviously going to pay Koalaville an unexpected visit. One of them, Crabby, thought to himself, 'Oh, it seems like we'll never be able to get rid of that human. Now he's coming back every few days!'
The koalas on the ground, among them Sticky, Judge Grandaddy and Doctor Koala, also noticed the approaching vehicle.
'I wonder why Mr. Johnson is coming here today?' Grandaddy said. 'Do you think he forgot something the other day?'
None of them dared to say it aloud, but all were asking themselves the same question: Could this visit have something to do with the lottery?
Soon the Land Rover pulled up and stopped. Mr. Johnson quickly got out, carrying the daily newspaper.
'Hi, my friends! I just had to come over right away!' he greeted them.
'What is it, sir?' Sticky asked.
'Well, I've been anxious ever since I bought the newspaper. You see, I forgot to write down the numbers that you played the other day. I could only remember three of them: 33, 4 and 7. And today in the paper, I saw that in Saturday's drawing, these were three of the numbers that were picked. But what were the other three that you played?' he asked excitedly, sitting down on the ground in front of their table and placing the open newspaper on it.
'Oh, I'm not quite sure,' Sticky answered. 'Wait here – I'll go back to my tree and fetch the ticket.' With that, he turned and began to jog up through the grove. His mind was racing: could it be that they had won? No, that would be too much of a good thing. But suppose he couldn't find the ticket? Or suppose someone had stolen it? True, nobody had ever stolen anything from him before, and none of the koalas in the grove would have known what to do with the lottery ticket anyway, but he'd feel better once he had it in his hand. Reaching his tree, he leapt onto the trunk and scurried up to the branch where he kept a little box with a number of articles inside. Carefully laid out on the bottom, beneath a folded piece of paper, a little bottle of ink and a feather pen, he found the ticket. He looked at it with a smile, then carefully put it into his pocket, climbed down the tree, and jogged back to his waiting friends.
'I've got it!' Sticky announced when he got there. He took his place at the table, and began to read the numbers. 'As you said, Mr Johnson, three of the numbers we played were 4, 7 and 33. The other three were 25, 41 and 47.'
Mr. Johnson looked down intensely at the open page in the newspaper, and then asked, with growing excitement in his voice, 'Did you say 25? And 41? And 47?'
'Yes, I did, sir,' Sticky replied.
'Give me that ticket, please,' Mr. Johnson took the ticket from Sticky, studied the numbers on it; then he looked back at the newspaper. He couldn't believe what he saw.
'You've won! You've actually won the lottery!' he cried out so loudly that the koalas were almost frightened at his outburst.
'What!' Doctor Koala gasped. 'Are you serious?' he leaned over to take a look at the ticket, and compare the numbers on it to those in the paper. 'Why, he's right. They're the same numbers!'
'Well, I'll be!' Grandaddy blurted out. 'Who would have thought it? I guess Claire picked our lucky numbers after all!'
Only Sticky was speechless. Doctor Koala and Grandaddy were happy, to be sure, but mainly because they had simply won a game. They didn't fully realize the implications of what had happened, but Sticky did, as did Mr Johnson, who, beside himself with joy, exclaimed, 'You have really won! Eight million dollars! Do you know what that means?'
'Let's see,' Doctor Koala muttered, 'eight million sounds like a rather large number, but what good is having eight million dollars, if we koalas don't even know what we could do with one or two of them?'
'Well, I certainly wouldn't know. Maybe you would like to have them, Mr Johnson?' Grandaddy offered.
'Oh, no, I couldn't accept that. It's your money. You picked the numbers, and Sticky here bought the ticket himself.'
'Uh, Mr. Johnson, didn't you tell me a few months ago that the human who owns Eucalyptus Grove would like to sell it?' Sticky asked.
'Yes, he does. His problem is that no human wants to buy it, since the state won't allow the trees to be cut down, so they wouldn't be able to build anything on it anyway,' Mr Johnson explained.
'And how much money does he want for it?' Sticky asked, as it gradually dawned on his friends what he was getting at.
'He wants a million dollars, the last I heard,' Mr Johnson answered.
'In that case, it is clear,' Sticky replied with a sudden burst of determined enthusiasm. He quickly got up out of his chair and took a few steps away from the table.
'My friends,' he announced in a tone of joyous resolve as he lifted his left hand and held out his arm straight, pointing directly between two trees, and over towards Eucalyptus Grove in the distance. 'Behold! That is going to be our new home!'
Grandaddy and Doctor Koala looked at each other for a moment, surprised and almost bewildered, then looked up at Mr. Johnson. 'Would that be possible, sir?' Doctor Koala asked him.
'Of course it would be!' Mr Johnson replied, laughing merrily. 'You have more than enough money. You can buy it whenever you want!'
'Why, I never thought I'd live to see the day…' Doctor Koala muttered. 'Imagine… we can all move over to that beautiful grove! Pinch me, Grandaddy, I think I must be dreaming!'
'Not before you pinch me,' Grandaddy replied, 'because I'm having the very same dream.'
The conversation that followed was long and animated, though interrupted by occasional pauses during which all involved merely stared at each other in a daze, hardly able to fully comprehend the luck they had had.
At one point, Sticky suggested, 'I do believe this would be a good moment to call a special session of the Koalaville Council, don't you?'
'Why, of course, you're right,' Grandaddy agreed. Then, calling out to a young koala who was walking nearby, 'Hey, you! Would you come over here?'
The koala immediately trotted over to them. 'Yes, sir, Judge. I'm not in any trouble, am I?'
'Well, hello, Wheezy!' Doctor Koala greeted him. 'How's that asthma of yours?'
'Oh, it's somewhat better, Doctor Koala, since you gave me that mint flavored eucalyptus tea to drink.'
'Glad to hear it,' the doctor replied.
'Wheezy,' Grandaddy said, 'I've got a favor to ask of you.'
'What can I do for you, Judge, sir?'
'Go to the members of the Council – those who aren't here already, naturally – and tell them to come over right away.'
'Oh, well, I'm not so sure who all the members are…' Wheezy said, a bit embarrassed about his ignorance.
'Yes, of course. Let me write them down for you.' Grandaddy took a feather pen out of his breast pocket, opened a little bottle of ink that was on the table in front of him, dipped the pen into it and began to write on a piece of paper.
'Chosay and Chashibu. They live in the trees next to mine.'
'Yes, I know them, sir,' Wheezy commented.
'Then there are Kashy and Gruffy. Gruffy lives in the center of the grove, Kashy in the west, about twelve trees up from here. Then there's Claire, over on the western central edge, and Tecky, he lives up in the northeast…'
'Oh yes, I know him well. Just the other week I traded with him for a bunch of berries I had picked. He gave me a nice little box in exchange. I use it to keep my medicine in. This asthma really slows me down sometimes,' Wheezy wheezed as he strained a bit to take a deep breath.
'Wheezy, if you don't feel up to the task, we could find somebody else to round up the members,' Doctor Koala expressed his concern.
'Oh, no, Doctor,' Wheezy answered, 'I would be honored to be of assistance, and I'm doing all right today. Besides, I'll get my brother Queezy to help me find them.'
'Excellent, Wheezy. I like your spirit. Tell them all we'll meet here three hours from now.
Oh, wait a minute,' Grandaddy hesitated, 'say it's important that all are present.'
'Will do, Grandaddy,' Wheezy said. 'Should I go now, or is there anything else?'
'No, that will be it. Go get your brother Queezy, and make sure all the koalas on this list are informed. Wait a second... let me see if I remembered everybody. Sticky, Doctor Koala and myself are already here. On the list, we have Chosay, Chashibu, Kashy, Gruffy, Tecky, and of course Claire. She's the one who dreamed up the numbers, so she simply must be told.
Oh yes, I forgot our youngest member, Handy,' Grandaddy said, jotting down Handy's name on the list below Claire's. 'Three members here, seven on the list to be rounded up. Ten in all, the complete Council. Here it is,' Grandaddy said, handing him the piece of paper.
Wheezy took a quick look at it, folded it, put it into the pocket of his overalls, said good-bye to all and walked away.
Grandaddy, Sticky and Doctor Koala then continued their conversation with Mr. Johnson, who began to explain to them how they could claim their money, and about the importance of opening a bank account.
'Hmmm… a bank, you say?' Doctor Koala questioned him. 'You mean, like a river bank?'
'Huh? Oh, no!' Mr Johnson replied. 'Not that kind of bank. A bank is a financial institution.'
All three koalas were silent, and looked a trifle bewildered.
'Oh, well, you see, humans deal with money, as you already know.'
'Yes, you told us,' Sticky said, 'and I saw how we bought things in the city using this money. But what we don't understand is, why don't they just trade one thing for another, as we do? For example, the man at a shop gives you a box, and you give him some nuts or berries?'
'That is hard to explain,' Mr. Johnson answered. 'Let's just say that in most cases, money makes everything easier. Now, as I was saying, if you have money, you should give it to a bank so that they can keep it for you.'
'Why is that?' asked Grandaddy, confused. 'It's our money, isn't it? Why should we give it away to humans we don't even know?'
'Well, you're not giving it away. They just keep it for you, in a safe place.'
'But we have safe places here,' Doctor Koala suggested, 'for example, that cave up in the forest. We could hide it there.'
'No, Doctor Koala,' Mr. Johnson said. 'It's safer in a bank, believe me. Even if some robbers stole it, you wouldn't lose it, since the bank has insurance.'
It took him a good five minutes to explain to the koalas the concept of bank insurance, for none had ever heard of such a thing. After then elucidating another important banking concept – that of getting interest on money one has in the bank – the koalas seemed quite pleased.
'Do you mean to say that if we put eight million dollars in the human bank now, the amount would grow to maybe eight million, three-hundred twenty thousand by next year?'
Grandaddy asked, amazed.
'At four percent, for example, that's exactly what I mean,' Mr. Johnson told him.
'Sounds good to me,' Doctor Koala opined, 'but Mr Johnson, I was thinking – and I'm sure my friends will agree – you should get at least half of this eight million dollars.'
'What?' Mr. Johnson reacted, surprised.
'Yes, of course,' Sticky went on. 'After all, you told us about the lottery, you took me to the city so that we could buy the ticket, and you even gave us the dollar to pay for it.'
'Oh, why thank you, thank you so much,' Mr Johnson said, touched by their generosity, 'but I cannot accept that. You had the right numbers, not I, and that's by far the most important part. Besides, I have enough money to live well, and I don't need more, but you koalas can do many wonderful things with so much money.'
As much as Grandaddy, Doctor Koala and Sticky tried to convince him, Mr. Johnson remained firm: he would not accept their unselfish offer.
'Well, sir,' Judge Grandaddy then said in a somewhat authoritarian tone, 'it is clear we can't convince you, but keep in mind that I am the Judge here in this grove, where you, too, find yourself at the moment.'
'Well, yes,' Mr Johnson uttered, not sure of what Grandaddy was getting at.
'Therefore, I will have the final word in this matter. Here's my decision. Since you won't accept any of the eight million, I hereby decree that you shall have one half of the interest we collect on the money annually, and for as long as we have that money.'
'Oh, no, really, I…' Mr. Johnson demurred.
'It's not up for discussion!' Grandaddy interrupted him, blocking any further protest on his part by holding up his hand. 'That is my decision, and you don't have to feel bad about it, for along with the money, you will have your obligations.'
'Which would be…?' Mr Johnson asked.
'You can help us manage the money, choose the best bank, get a high rate of interest, et cetera.'
'But I would have helped you with all that anyway!' the human replied.
'I know,' said Grandaddy, 'but where a service is rendered, compensation should be offered, so you shall have fifty percent of the interest, and that's that. No more complaints, or I might just fine you! I'm the Judge here, I can do that, you know,' Grandaddy smiled slyly.
'Well, I don't know how to thank you…'
'No need to thank us. We all agree it's the right thing,' Sticky added, 'so you'll just have to accept it!'
'In that case, I do accept, and with my most sincere thanks,' Mr. Johnson said, nodding his head in a gesture of reverence to them.
They then talked about the details, about how Mr. Johnson would invite a notary to come with him the next time so that the koalas could give him, Mr. Johnson, power of attorney.
That way, he would be able to claim the money for them, open the bank account, and do everything else related to managing their money. They were going to have all these things taken care of over the next few days, and they planned that within a week or so, their prize money would be claimed and transferred to their new bank account, after which they would immediately arrange to purchase Eucalyptus Grove. To make sure they'd get it, Mr Johnson was going to call the owner that very evening to set up an appointment for the following week.
After a couple of hours of fruitful planning, Mr. Johnson made his farewells and left them.
He would come back in two days to inform them of how things were going, as well as to bring the notary so that the necessary papers could be signed.
'Good bye, Mr. Johnson!' the koalas called in chorus. 'We give you our most sincere thanks!' Grandaddy added, reflecting the sentiments of them all.
After waving good-bye to him as he drove off, they went back to their table.