I’m not up on playing the lottery, so I asked Sal the Barber, in the place where all things are discussed, what would he suggest if I wanted to send my sister some lottery tickets for her birthday? I discovered the lottery is an arcane world as he rattled off the choices, but finally Sal settled on “A Lifetime Winner” as his recommendation.

If my sister won she would get $1,000 every month for the rest of her life.

“She’s up there in age, so I don’t know if that’s a good deal,” I said to him, but he countered with a complicated solution that involved designating some young relatives to take the winnings, while my sister could benefit quietly for the rest of her years.

Too deep for me to understand, but anyway I went next store and said the code words to the man at the lottery machine and he handed me the tickets. Sal gave me $5 to get some tickets for him too. He said he was sure I was lucky today.

Who says faith is dead?