Charmed

Sometimes a blessing is the curse

"Ow! John, I asked you to throw this right in the can! The glass cut me through the bag!" Jaqueline then picked the bag up more carefully.

"Jackie, I could have busted it that way."

She looked at him crossly. "It busted my skin instead; are you happy?" She slammed the bag down into the plastic trash bin. The offending mirror in it shattered.

John winced. "That will bring bad luck, just you watch."

Not particularly superstitious, the incident with the mirror had still somehow gotten to her. Over the next few months, she found herself tossing salt over her shoulder; when she almost walked into Harold's Greenmarket with her umbrella still up, she stopped so sharply to put it down that she almost fell over. But no bad luck befell her.

She could not shake the increasing feeling of impending dread. She stopped going out, avoided mirrors. But after the third month of this, Jacky had a surge of will.

If something's going to happen, let's get it over with! she thought.

She began going out again, despite the panic in the very back of her mind. Let it happen. She drove carelessly, didn't look when crossing busy streets. Let it happen!

But nothing did. In fact, she was luckier than ever. She walked at night without a flashlight, gambled startling amounts at the casino across the river.

Something better happen, or I'll MAKE it happen!

In the end, that's exactly what she did.

@-----@-----@

Jacky now resides in the Cooper County Correctional Facility for Women. Robbing Harold's at knifepoint turned out to be enough to let in the bad luck from the broken mirror.

She actually feels good these days, ironically freer without the impending doom.

And she has plenty of time to reflect on the cause of it.



(301 Words)