Fleeced

Farmer Johnson, a man of few words, loves his life of solid routines. Every day is exactly the same, from his usual order of two eggs over easy, two strips of bacon, two pieces of toast, orange juice, and his coffee. Even his lottery ticket numbers are the same, played so often that Millie, his usual waitress, doesn’t even have to ask him what they are any longer. She simply punches them in every morning and gives him the ticket with his tab at the end of his meal.
This morning is no exception and Farmer Johnson starts his day in the usual way, grabbing his favorite meal at his favorite diner. He eats his breakfast, pays his tab, grabs his lottery ticket, and heads out to his truck. Just as he does every morning, he tucks the ticket into the visor over the driver’s seat alongside hundreds of others and heads out to the fields to check on his livestock.
Farmer Johnson is such a creature of habit that he’s managed to time his day out to the second, knowing exactly when to turn on his favorite radio station to hear the daily announcement for the lottery number draw. But today, unlike every other day for the hundreds of days before it, something is about to change. When the first number is called and it matches his ticket, Farmer Johnson is amused. When the second number matches, he’s surprised. When the next, and the next and the next match, finally leading to a complete match across the board, Farmer Johnson, who rarely feels anything, is stunned.
Of course, to claim the prize he has to call into the lottery commission. He pulls out his cell phone, only to drop it into his cup of morning coffee where it immediately dies. Desperate, he turns his truck around, heading back to Millie’s and a working phone. As he does, he puts the ticket back into the visor over his head, accidentally catching the strap as he does. The strap snaps, filling the cab of the truck with hundreds of lottery tickets. They catch on the wind from his open window and swirl around before being sucked out, dancing down the road behind the truck.
Farmer Johnson slams on the brakes and jumps out, scrambling to catch the winning ticket. He grabs one and looks at it before discarding it to grab another, searching for the winning ticket. Finally, there’s just one ticket left, dancing just out of his reach on the breeze into the middle of a field. Farmer Johnson leaps over the fence to grab the ticket but stops short as he finds himself face to face with an angry bull. As Farmer Johnson chases the ticket, the bull chases him. Farmer Johnson manages to narrowly escape, but loses his pants in the process, catching them on a barbed wire fence.
He continues to chase the ticket into another field where it lands at the feet of a large, grizzled ram. Farmer Johnson, pant-less in his boxers and now barefoot, dives for the ticket, his fingers brushing it just as the ram lowers his head and pulls it in with a wad of grass.
We’re back at Millie’s and it’s exactly as it was before. Farmer Johnson sits in his usual spot with his usual meal and goes through his usual routine. Millie brings him his tab and his lottery ticket. He slides a few bills in under the receipt, grabs his keys and heads out to the parking lot, making his way towards some old beat-up trucks.

Directed by Wesley Alley (USA)