Reimagining of "The Lottery"
Perspective: Bill Hutchinson I shift my weight uneasily. The Lottery is easily the most barbaric of the year, but there aren’t many folks in this town who’d agree with me. Tessie always says it's human nature, the primalistic instinct in us ripping its way to the surface. If it’s true, that instinct certainly rears its ugly head in this town. I check that Tessie is still standing beside me, chattering away like she always does when she’s nervous. I’m more nervous this year than I’ve ever been before, what with Tessie’s late appearance and all. The punishment for skipping the ceremony is worse than anything that could happen to you here, if that’s possible. But I don’t want to make a scene, so I stand quietly and twist the slip of paper in my hand, round and round again, smoothing the creases that inevitably emerge. There’s so many people here it seems near impossible that my family could be at risk. I don’t suppose I even know what I’d do if...