Pigeon Redux

A few years back, a bird pooped on my shirt as I walked under its perch. Thais I met that morning became quite excited—jealous, even—about what they considered my good fortune. Long story short, I was encouraged to buy a lottery ticket. The ticket’s final two digits were “66,” which were chosen with the help of a Thai website to match the type of bird we presumed had hit me. (I hadn’t been sure, but we all guessed that it was probably a pigeon, the most common urban species.)

That ticket didn’t win. I thought to myself, “bad luck.” But the folks who had advised me thought, “wrong species.”

Fast forward to last week. Some workmates and I were at lunch, sitting at a covered outdoor cafeteria. Three pigeons were perched on a light fixture above our table. This time the victim (favored one?) was my friend Somboon. When I saw the poop on his shirt, I knew he couldn’t lose. After all, we had a positive species identification.

We saw a lottery ticket seller on the walk back to the office. Somboon decided to go out on a limb and bet on the final three digits (the more you match, the more you win). He went for “366,” on the thinking that there were three pigeons. Word spread quickly, and before the day was out, another ticket sporting the same number was in the hands of Tay, the housekeeper on our floor. I gather that she takes her lottery science quite seriously. The day of my mis(?)hap, she too had put down 80 baht on “66.”

Back then, of course, she and I were both denied. This time, it seemed a sure thing. Somboon is engaged to be married in a few weeks—how bad can his karma be? Plus he had experience going for him, and witnesses, and the fact that the poop landed on his shirt and not in his meal.

The winning numbers are drawn twice a month, on the 1st and the 16th, during the afternoon. Because the 16th was a Friday, I didn’t hear confirmation of the victory we were all sure was coming until around noon on Monday. How was I informed? By the housekeeper presenting me with a free lunch, out of gratitude for my role in her big payoff. How much did she and Somboon each win? 4000 baht ($120)!

Somboon’s jackpot won’t make too big a dent in the cost of his coming wedding. But for Tay the payout was nearly half a month’s salary. Not a bad return on investment in these tough economic times.