The Machine That Paid Too Much

The sports hall is already loud at nine in the morning. Shoes squeak on the floor. Someone drops a ball, and everyone jumps.

Beatriz stands next to the ticket machine at the front door. It is old, gray and tall. It has a coin slot, a green light and a wide mouth. Everyone calls it Old Hum, because it hums when it works.

A small label is stuck on its side. The letters are almost gone. Beatriz can only read four words. "Change is a gift."

Ulises runs in from the car park with a box of pens. "The first match starts at ten," he says. "The head referee wants twenty team tickets before that. No ticket, no court."

"I know," says Beatriz. "Twenty teams. And each ticket costs one silver coin."

"Then let us start."

Beatriz has a bag of silver coins and two heavy gold ones. A gold coin is worth five silver. The gold ones are only for big problems. She does not plan to use them.

She drops a silver coin into the slot. The green light blinks. Old Hum gives a low, happy sound. Then a ticket slides out. It takes a whole minute.

"One minute for one ticket," says Ulises. He looks at the clock on the wall. "Twenty tickets take twenty minutes. It is nine forty."

"So we have just enough time," says Beatriz. "If nothing goes wrong."

Of course, something goes wrong.

On the next try, Beatriz feeds in a gold coin by mistake. Her hand is quick. The coins look the same in the dim light. She sees it too late.

"Oh no," she says.

Old Hum hums longer than before. The green light turns warm gold. Then the tray at the bottom fills with paper. Not one ticket. Nine tickets. They glow a little, like small lanterns.

Ulises stares at them. "Wrong change," he says. "A gold coin buys five tickets. It gave you nine."

"That is not wrong change," says Beatriz. "That is the right ticket, with the change in tickets."

"That is wrong," says Ulises. "The machine must give coins, not tickets. Someone will be angry."

He tries to fix it. He opens a small door at the back. He taps the metal with a pen. He asks the machine nicely, then he asks it sharply. Old Hum only hums.

A father with a sports bag comes to the door. "Is the line open?" he asks. "My daughter's team needs a ticket."

"Ten minutes," says Ulises. His voice is high. "Please wait."

Beatriz picks up the nine glowing tickets. They are warm in her hand. She counts them again. They are real tickets, with a team number on each one.

"Ulises," she says. "Do we need the tickets?"

"Yes, but we need them from a normal machine."

"No. We need tickets. Any tickets." She turns the first one over. "These work at the court. I read the number. It looks like the first ticket."

"I do not like this," says Ulises.

"I do not like it either. But we have only fifteen minutes."

Ulises looks at the clock. It says nine forty-five. He looks at the machine. He looks at the nine tickets in her hand.

He breathes out. "Fine. What do we do?"

"We try something," says Beatriz.

She counts on her fingers. "We need twenty tickets. We have one from the first try. Add nine, and we have ten."

"Another gold coin gives nine more," says Ulises slowly. "That is nineteen. Then one silver coin gives the last one."

"Two tries and a small one. Three minutes, not twenty." She holds out her hand. "Where is the second gold coin?"

Ulises finds it in the bag. Her heart beats fast. She drops it in the slot.

The green light turns gold again. Old Hum hums so deep that the floor shakes a little. A boy near the door looks up from his phone. A line begins to form behind them.

One minute. Two.

Then nine more glowing tickets slide into the tray. Beatriz holds them to her chest. The machine seems to sigh, like a friend who finally smiles.

"Silver coin," she says.

Ulises gives her one. She puts it in the slot. A single ticket appears at last.

At nine forty-nine she has twenty tickets. She puts them in one neat pile.

"The captains are in the main hall," says Ulises. He is already running. "I take the first ten. You take the rest."

"Go!" says Beatriz.

She runs the other way, down the long floor. Her shoes squeak loudly. In the hall the teams stand in two lines. The head referee stands between them. He holds his whistle in his hand.

Ten captains hold up their hands as Ulises gives out tickets. Beatriz moves from team to team and gives out hers. Each captain looks at the glowing paper and smiles in surprise.

Last in line stands a girl with a ball under her arm. Beatriz gives her the twentieth ticket. It is still warm.

She looks up at the clock. It says ten.

The head referee lifts his whistle. Beatriz runs back to the front door. "Thank you," she whispers. She drops one last silver coin into Old Hum's slot. It pays for the extra tickets.