Unlucky Duckling

I am not a superstitious person. The only bad luck that comes from walking under a ladder, for instance, is the significant increase in the probability of something (like paint) landing on your head. But tonight was not my night.

It started at dinner. I ordered a beef brisket. They were out. In fact, they'd sold out an hour before we'd even arrived, when someone apparently ordered sixteen pounds of the stuff. Really? Fine, I'll have barbecue instead, thank you. It was okay, once I put hot sauce on it.

The waitress eventually rolled back around to ask us if we wanted dessert. As a matter of fact, I'd seen the board on the way in (strategically--indeed, successfully--placed, of course) and the blackberry cobbler sounded just fabulous, so I'll have one of those, please. Sure, she answered cheerfully, and disappeared.

She reappeared with my sister's apple something-or-other and more bad news. Guess what else they were out of? I took the opportunity to remind my mother that I had not wanted to eat at this restaurant in the first place.

Now, I should back up a little. Before dinner, we were next door in the Radio Shack buying some gadget my mother needed. I have been needing a new phone, and it just so happened that on display they had the very phone I've got my heart set on, and for twenty dollars cheaper than at the AT&T store. We decided to wait until after we'd eaten then possibly return for the phone.

Now, after dinner, I stood quite between the two storefronts, considering heavily the fact that as soon as I bought the phone the price would drop significantly. I also considered heavily the fact that this would be the case regardless of when I bought the phone. So I made some philosophical comment about not waiting for life to happen to you but to make life happen instead, and went back inside the Radio Shack. Today was as good a day as any to get a new phone, right?

Now, you've probably already been able to surmise how events proceeded from here. According to the clerk, they actually had every phone from the display in stock... except for the one I wanted. Why I was unable to see this coming, I do not know.

My thoughts inevitably retreated to a penny I found a week or so ago in the school parking lot, face down. I thought "Ha, a penny is a penny, and now I'm one cent richer," and picked it up. Like I said, a penny possesses no supernatural powers. It is also of note that the day before that I'd picked up a face-up penny in a nearby spot. Now, the lesson in this is clearly not one of universal forces or the positive and negative energies would have balanced, no? I think it's a lesson in the pursuit of money. Two pennies two days in a row is shameless excess, and I certainly reaped the consequences of being so blatantly materialistic. Never. again.