ZapFic Monday: Bill Smith's Big Win
This week's Zapfic prompt in the Freewriters community is "Premium"
In 1978, Bill Smith bought £100 of Premium Bonds. For 45 years, they won just one £25 prize.
Then a man came to the door. He said, “You’ve won the million pound jackpot !”
Bill was so shocked he dropped dead from a heart attack. What a shame.
I managed to hit exactly 240 characters again 😁
As background for anyone from outside the UK, Premium Bonds are a government saving scheme that has been going for years. Instead of paying interest, there is a monthly draw by a computer called ERNIE. Most of the prizes are quite small, but each month there is one jackpot prize of a million pounds. The odds of winning are pretty astronomical !
For any of my friends (or anyone else, for that matter !) who reads this and fancies giving it a try, it's really fun and thought provoking. The rules are really simple;
- The Freewriters Community has a Zapfic post with a writing prompt every Monday
- Your response must be posted within 3 days in the Freewriters Community.
- Please post a link to your entry in the comments section of the prompt post
- Please use #freewritehouse and #zapfic tags.
- The important one - YOU MUST use a word/character counter (if you search for word counter on the internet or in your phone's app store you will get a big choice!) wordcounter.net and include a screenshot. Entries without a screenshot will NOT be valid.
- Please use the prompt provided as you see fit (use your imagination)
- Try to tell a complete story if you can!
- The story should only be up to 240 characters long (including spaces, punctuation etc).
I really like the way you give the backdrop to the story, helping us understand what was written in the 50 words or less story
I never knew of premium bond.
Thank you ! Premium Bonds are a real oddity, and I think the way they are done is peculiar to the UK. They've been going for decades, and the actual rate of return isn't particularly great, but having a small chance to win a million pounds gives people the chance to dream.
Of course, when they were first introduced, a million pounds meant you'd never have to work again and would have enough to live in luxury for the rest of your life. Now, it's still a big chunk of money, but inflation over the years means it isn't life changing in the same kind of way.
Why now?
That's so sad, you'd better get up and enjoy the jackpot.
Nice short story dear.