12-Year-Old Answers $21 Million Question

Imagine winning $21 million and not knowing it.

For two straight days, Alonza and Shirley Richardson, of Laurel, had no idea that they had landed what would become the second largest Powerball jackpot ever given away in the Washington area.

The Richardsons were not watching when the winning numbers were posted on TV Saturday night at 10:59, and they did not take any other steps to check to see if they had beaten the awesome odds of one in about 54 million.

Unaware that they were now millionaires in waiting, life went on as usual. That was until Monday night.

Enter their 12-year-old daughter.

As the family was lounging around the house that night, it was announced on the TV news that a winner had not come forward and the winning Powerball numbers were read again. This time, the couple's daughter checked their tickets to see whether the family maybe had struck it rich.

They had, big time.

And what were the first moments of being in the money like?

"I don't know; it takes a while for it to settle in," Shirley Richardson, looking slightly overwhelmed, told reporters at a brief news conference yesterday in front of the D.C. lottery office.

Alonza Richardson, 43, stood by her side. He is employed at the Library of Congress. Shirley Richardson, 40, works as a legal assistant.

When queried about whether she feels that hitting the jackpot will change her family's life, she replied, "I hope it doesn't, but I'm sure it will ... in many ways."

Moments later, with TV cameras trailing, the couple made a beeline for their car, which was waiting across the street, and drove away.

The Richardsons split a $42 million Powerball jackpot with another ticket holder in Kansas, lottery officials said. That total is the sixth largest jackpot in the history of the game.

After federal taxes are taken out, the Richardsons will receive $756,000 a year for the next 20 years. The first check will be cut on Oct. 31.

Last December, Percy Ray Pridgen, 69, a District resident, and Charles Gill, 35, who lives in Richmond, split a $90 million Powerball jackpot.

The Richardsons said yesterday that their newfound fortune is the result of the five Powerball tickets -- a $5 investment, as they put it -- that they bought at Sammy's Liquors in Northeast Washington while buying beer.

The family hasn't had much time to take a collective deep breath and think about what they would like to do with the money. Maybe a bit of traveling or even setting up some type of foundation are possibilities, they said.

But Alonza Richardson does not want anyone to be mistaken.

"Money is not happiness; it helps in many situations, but it is not happiness," he said. "Happiness is something you have to work at with your family."