A young married couple walked into a big house on the corner of two busy Dallas streets. It was never their dream to live downtown, but when they heard about the raffle that would give the house away to one lucky winner, they suddenly found a number of reasons why living there would be perfect for them.

They entered through double doors with white stained glass and gaped at the openness before them. To their right was a large sitting area with windows that nearly stretched from the floor to the high ceiling and covered the entire length of the wall. At the end of the wall, they could go around to enter the kitchen. To their left was the living room. No wall separated this room from the sitting area, but there was so much space between the two and the foyer that you could enjoy the quiet of one while someone else was noisy in the other.

The couple took a seat on one of the couches in the sitting area so they could take in the beauty of it all. A worker had come in and started setting up what looked like a little kiosk near the open foyer, but it didn’t distract from the impressiveness of it all. Once the awe subsided, they got up and explored the back of the house as several more people came in through the double doors.

They came upon a mini bar, and across from that was a sliding glass door that led out to a little dock with a boat bobbing up and down in the water right outside. Did the boat come with the house? And the liquor? The couple gave each other a questioning look with a hopeful smile.

Past the bar and sliding glass door were several bedrooms. The master bedroom was so deep it could have been used as a second living room. The purple motif and mirrors along one of the walls added a kind of charm the couple hadn’t expected. They took a step down to get from where the bed was to the bathroom. It was wonderful! The whole setup was so modern and they couldn’t wait to live in such an amazing house!

After looking at the other bedrooms and bathroom, it was time for the drawing. The couple hurried to the sitting area, their hearts thumping in anticipation. They were so sure they were going to win the raffle!

In their excitement they didn’t make out what the drawer was saying, but they did hear when their names were not called.

The sinking feeling in their hearts was great. They sat frozen in their seats, unable to fully comprehend what just happened. They didn’t win? How? They were so sure this big, beautiful, downtown house on the river was going to be theirs!

Instead, one of the raffle workers hurried over and quietly told them they came in second place and handed them each a $2,000 gift certificate to Sephora, the sponsor of the raffle. As it turned out, the little kiosk being built was actually a make-up stand.

The husband snatched the certificate from the worker and started angrily pulling make-up off display hooks and from the counter top. His wife pleaded with him to give her his certificate since he didn’t even wear make-up, or at least to not feel like the entire $2,000 had to be spent at once! He ignored her pleas, saying he never wanted to come back downtown ever again. The wife pleaded further, saying there were plenty of Sephora’s around Dallas, and around the country for that matter!

It didn’t matter. Lipglosses, mascaras, nail polishes, they were all grabbed by hate-filled hands as the worker behind the pop-up counter stared in horror.

The couple left the downtown house, the wife heartbroken the dream house would remain a dream, and the husband outraged at the two large bags he had to carry out that were filled with $2,000 worth of make-up.