Jackpot Undeleted (Foto, Julja)

((As a result of an unfortunate altercation between me and the Edit Button, this letter, 18 ottobre mmv, was inadvertently deleted.--Giac.))

Foto: La Ruota della Fortuna

Dear Julja,
° I face an ethical dilemma, one which only instinctive French gametheory can resolve.
° Leggero, on a whim, gave me a lottery ticket, my very first, and I am terrified that I shall win.
° In the first place, the back of the ticket suggests that everybody will win $599 or less. Well, that won’t purchase the gas to go claim the prize.
° Amounts between $599 and $199,000 may be claimed by mail. So that’s worth a 37cent stamp.
° And though amounts between $199,000 and the jackpot of $340,000,000 must be claimed in person, in Overton, I reckon it would pay to do so.

§

° The delicate moral question is, Just how much of the jackpot--for I am confident of success--am I to share with Leggero?
° Put another way, Just how little can I share with him and still retain his friendship?
° You see the problem, Zero is such a cold number.

§§§§§

° In fact, it’s only as the prize approaches $100,000 that I become tempted to stinginess. For the interest on that sum equals weekly 90minute Swedish massages for an entire year. So the lucre is capable of producing real value, not just a trinket like a car or a year’s tuition at Alma Mater.
° And it’s only when I see his net worth surpassing mine that I become truly wary. The word “allowance,” with its parental implications, comes to mind.
° But if, as I fear, I win the jackpot, I’ll cheerfully split it straight down the middle, onethird for me, onethird for Leggero, and onethird for the Giac & Leggero Foundation.
° Whose mandate will be to--well, it wouldn’t have a mandate, it’d just be taxfavoured mad money, like Bill & Melinda’s.

° Well that’s a load off, Giac.