While your explanation defines a limit to three to five sentences, a little background is necessary.

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the town's people are getting ready for their annual selection for the person who will be sacrificed for the good of the crops. This said, this event has been practiced for a very long time ("even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born"). Therefore, the town is very familiar with the procedure the lottery follows (even though some question the procedure and continuing practice of it).

Procedure:

The town's people must gather by 10 o'clock on June 27th. Once gathered, the names of the male head-of-household are called. Each male must come forward and draw a slip of paper from the box placed upon a stool. After all households have drawn, all open their piece of paper looking for a black dot. Once found, the members of the family of the "winner" must draw; the family member holding the black dot will be stoned to death for the benefit of the crops.

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At ten o'clock in the morning on June 27th, the entire community gathers in the town square, where Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves proceed to conduct the lottery. Once everyone gathers, Mr. Summers addresses the community and asks if anyone is not participating in the lottery in order to decide who will draw for the missing person. Mr. Summers then calls the husband of each family in alphabetical order to draw a slip of paper from the ominous black box. In Jackson's patriarchal society, the oldest son draws in place of their father if he cannot participate for any reason. The head of each household is also required to keep their slip of paper folded until every husband draws from the black box.

Once each husband has drawn from the black box, Mr. Summers instructs them to look at their slip of paper simultaneously to determine who has the slip with the black spot on it. Whoever draws the black spot is required to call their family back to the black box, where each family member draws one slip of paper. The family member who ends up drawing the black spot becomes the community's scapegoat and is stoned to death by the entire town.