The other night, along my way home, I spotted a yellow display inside the local Mr. Donut. As I got closer, I spotted a great BIG stuffed Pon-De-Lion hanging inside the display. Ever since I was a child I have absolutely LOVED lions in all shapes, colors, and sizes. And in Japan lions are incredibly rare in stuffed animal form. I probably already own all of the stuffed lion animals in existence in Japan, including Ra-yon-chan (Lion-chan) – the local channel 8 mascot. So, of course I desperately needed to add Pon-De-Lion to my collection.
When I neared the front entrance of the Mr. Donut, I caught sight of the terms and conditions of ‘winning’ the stuffed animal. I would first need to accumulate 100 points (I had no idea how many donuts I would need to buy in order to get that many points). Then I would need to go through a raffle box and try my luck in winning either the big stuffed animal, the medium-sized one, a cellular phone strap, a mug, or a set of stickers. Aside from the stuffed animal I wasn’t interested in anything else. But… 100 points?!!
I looked at my husband pleadingly. Would he possibly be interested in buying 100 points worth of donuts so that I would have a chance at winning the lion? Amazingly, he just so happened to have a point card with 90 points. So one box of donuts later we had 100 points and the man behind the counter presented me with a big cardboard box. My husband asked what the odds were of me winning the stuffed animal and the cashier apologetically said that it was nearly impossible. I excitedly shuffled around the scratch cards inside until I pulled out the one which I deemed to be lucky. I scratched it and was very surprised to see the ‘#2’, indicating that I had indeed won the medium-sized stuffed animal.
So now, as I write this my bright yellow lion with a donut-shaped mane sits atop his throne on my bed. And I have just been told that I am extremely lucky to have won him because another co-worker at Smith’s School of English also seems to be overzealously buying donuts in an attempt to win one for herself. I just hope that she doesn’t happen to read this and try to hunt me down or attempt to steal my Pon-De-Lion.
-SJ
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