As Tessie screams, a stone hits her on the side of the

head. Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village,

urges the villagers on. The villagers descend upon Tessie
with the stones.
 The crowd in the small village has gathered for an
annual lottery that takes place each year at the end of June.
Every head of household is called to grab a slip of paper
from the box in the center of the village square. Mr.
Summers is in charge of the lottery.

Tessie Hutchinson realizes her husband, Bill is the

center of the villager’s attention. The slip of paper he took
has something on it. Tessie begins to yell that it isn’t fair,
and that Bill wasn’t given enough time to choose the paper
he wanted by Mr. Summers.

The entire Hutchinson family, Bill, Tessie, Bill, Jr., 12

year-old Nancy, and toddler Little Davy, are called up to
the box. Mr. Summers puts five slips of paper into the box,
including the one Bill Hutchinson had been holding when
he was chosen.

Each member of the Hutchinson family draws a slip of

paper from the box. All of the papers are blank, except for
Tessie’s, which has a black dot in pencil on it.

Tessie begins to scream that it’s not fair, it’s not right.
The villagers begin to pick up the stones they’d gathered
earlier and form a circle around Tessie. They want to get
this over with before noon dinner.