PEMBROKE — It’s the knock at the door that everyone dreams of hearing.

When a Pembroke man opened his door on Thursday afternoon, two young women stood there with balloons, a dozen red roses, and a check for $10,000. They asked if he was Curtis Woods and when he said yes, they told him that he had just won “a reality check” from the Publishing Clearing House.

“This is a gag, right?” Woods asked Prize Patrol deputies Melissa Pascucci and Nadine Tunsoiu, who came down from Long Island, N.Y., to deliver the check.

They showed Woods embroidered Publishing Clearing House jackets and told him that it was not a joke.

“Oh wow,” Woods said. “This is a big surprise to me.”

Woods was one of 101 winners nationwide to receive a $10,000 prize this week.

“I’m sure the sun is out for you right now,” said Pascucci, pointing out the rainy weather.

Minutes later, Woods’ father Murphy and his girlfriend Naomi Chavis arrived at the home.

Woods grabbed his check and showed his father, who was speechless.

“Wait a minute, you’re kidding, is this real?” Chavis said. “I finally met someone who won the Publishers Clearing House!”

Chavis started calling family and friends.

A former Marine, Woods has lived in Pembroke since he was 8 years old. He left his job at a hotel to concentrate on going back to school to earn his law degree. He said the money will go toward some bills and to help pay for his schooling.

“I started to ask am I being punked?” Woods said.

Pascucci and Tunsoiu said they had four checks to give out from Florida to North Carolina, and Pembroke was their final stop.

“The last lady thought we were playing a mean joke on her,” Tunsoiu said.

Before the two women left, Woods picked them both up and gave them huge hugs.

“Thank you so much and this is not a joke,” he said. “This is real.”

Dave Sayer, the Prize Patrol chief, said that Woods is the first person from the Pembroke area to win a check from the Publishing Clearing House.

The Publishing Clearing House, which is a marketer of various magazine subscriptions and merchandise, has awarded more than $221 million in prizes since 1988. Woods entered the contest for free through the Internet.