Not often is a middle-aged woman seen hopping in public, yet there was Mary Ann Seems, bouncing on her toes yesterday in a , her fists quivering in post-lottery fever.
"This is so exciting!" exclaimed Seems, 47, of Titusville, N.J. "I don't care who it is; it's in our neighborhood!"
Seems lives just across the Delaware River from Washington Crossing, where a Cumberland Farms store last week sold the richest winning lottery ticket so fare in Pennsylvania history.
Annuity value: $213.2 million.
Cash option: $110.2 million.
Winner's name: So far, lord only knows. But he or she almost certainly is out hiring a lawyer and an investment whiz.
On the chance that he or she hasn't checked Saturday night's Powerball drawing, the golden numbers are 3, 9, 17, 37, 43, and the Powerball of 39.
Whoever holds the winning slip had not stepped forward yesterday, and probably won't for a while, said Steve Kniley, press secretary for the state Department of Revenue. Powerball winners have a year to claim their prizes.
Lottery officials routinely advise big winners to round up some good legal and financial advisers before going public.
"Our recent experience is that people have been listening to us," Kniley said. "I will be shocked if someone comes forward right away."
That hasn't muted the buzz in the store on Route 532 where the ticket was sold. Customer service leader Doris Errickson said lottery sales had been brisk all day, amid apparent hopes of a second lightning strike.
Or a third. Only a week ago, the store sold a $10,000 Pick 4 winner, Errickson said.
"It hasn't slowed down much, and actually there's a lot of people bringing in tickets to check," she said.
At 5 a.m. Sunday, Errickson had just opened the store when a lottery official called to tell her about the ticket.
Once the sale was confirmed, Errickson then placed one of the most memorable local wake-up calls since George Washington rousted a bunch of hungover Hessians in Trenton.
She called her boss, store manager Randy Boldizar.
It was Mother's Day, so Boldizar - husband and father of four - wasn't thrilled when the phone rang at 8:30 a.m.
"You're kidding," Boldizar recalled saying when Errickson told him the news.
A half-hour later, state lottery officials were calling: Press conference at 4 p.m.
"My wife was a little upset," Boldizar, 41, said. "It ruined her day."
She may cheer up if Cumberland Farms decides to share its lottery take with store workers. The Massachusetts corporation will receive $400,000 for selling the ticket.
Foster Macrides, a Cumberland Farms spokesman, said yesterday that the firm had made no decisions but that he might have more information later this week.
Earlier this year, Rutter's Farm Stores of Pennsylvania received $400,000 after a winning Powerball ticket was sold at one of its York County stores. The chain gave $100,000 to local charities, and divided $35,000 among nine employees of the store.
Saturday's drawing was the fourth time a winning Powerball jackpot ticket has been sold in Pennsylvania. The previous state record had been held by a Butler County couple who last year chose a $73.6 million lump-sum payment over a $130.65 million 30-year annuity.
Whether Saturday's winner is a Pennsylvanian remains to be seen. Boldizar, whose store sits a quarter-mile from the Washington Crossing Bridge, said about half of his lottery customers are from New Jersey.
"They're all excited and in a little disbelief, just like me, that their local convenience store sold a winner," he said. "I'm just glad that, hopefully, it's somebody from around here."
Now we know why Washington crossed the Delaware...
To get to the other side?
Chas