LUCK IS A LADY
Sam wasn't sure if it was a
wonderful sign or a sign of impending disaster but he knew it was definitely a
sign and to ignore it would be foolish indeed. His mother had taught him the
importance of paying attention to signs--like the time when he was five and the
chickens wouldn't eat, she just knew something terrible was about to happen.
Sure enough, her brother Vern wound up in the hospital the next day more dead
than alive. The fact that he had started a brawl with a motorcycle gang while
blind drunk didn't factor into it as far as Mama was concerned. A sign was a
sign and you ignored it at your peril. Another time when the clouds formed a
dollar symbol in the clear blue sky, she made Papa buy her a lottery ticket
and--praised be to God--didn't she win fifty dollars? She used that money to
buy Sam a new suit for church as a thank-you to her sweet lord and savior. It
didn't matter that Sam wanted to buy the silver race car in the window at
McCrory's, Mama couldn't have cared less. Funny thing about it, now that he was
a grown man with a good job he had plenty of money to buy himself a racecar,
but he didn't want one any more. Just like he didn't want to stay up all night watching
TV while he shoveled candy in his mouth until he felt sick. Times change.
But this sign was a tough one to
figure out and Sam knew everything depended on getting it right. A wrong
decision could ruin everything. He wondered why it couldn't be something
simple, like finding a penny heads up or walking under a ladder. At least then
he'd know what to expect. Of course, not every sign was reliable. One time, a
bird flew straight into the window and killed itself and Mama went crazy
waiting for the tragic news that someone had died. Weeks went by and nothing
happened but she never relaxed her guard until she heard that Earl, their old
mailman who was in his 80s and living in a retirement home across town, a man
who used to keep stones in his pocket to ward off vicious dogs and who liked to
shoot baskets with the boys in the park, had died. That afternoon, Mama threw
open the curtains, breathed a sigh of relief and said well, finally that's over
with, thank-you, Jesus. Sam thought that one was a bit of a stretch, but he
didn't say so.
Now that Mama was gone, Sam had
trouble reading the signs; he couldn't tell good omens from bad and it had left
him befuddled. Mama could always explain everything by reading the signs and
she made perfect sense. But there were no signs the day she died, no warnings
at all, no howling dogs or dead crickets, nothing. In the evening, Mama had
sprinkled salt in front of the doors to keep evil spirits away, just like she
always did. Then she had baked a chocolate mayonnaise cake for the Church bake
sale and put it on the sill to cool--that's what she'd said anyway. Sam knew
she did it to stop him from snatching a slice of his favorite cake. Later on,
with the aroma of chocolate cake swirling through the air and the sound of his
mama humming softly to herself, Sam had been lulled to sleep. But when he got
up in the morning, she was already gone. She just went to bed and never woke
up. They saved her chocolate cake for the funeral, of course. Sam didn't want
any, didn't want to eat at all, but he broke down and ate a piece in honor of
his mama. Usually, you don't know when it's the last time you'll ever do a
thing. This wasn't one of those times. As Sam savored the cake, taking small
forkfuls to make it last, he knew his mama would've been tickled to know she'd
catered her own funeral reception.
In the three months that followed,
it was all Sam could do to take care of the house and the chickens by himself
and make it to the marina by eight. There was no time to think about signs or
anything else. Then, one morning, he found a ladybug on the roof of his truck.
He knew good luck was coming his way. Carefully, he moved her to a leaf and
made sure she was safe, but before he could get in the truck, a black cat ran
out from between the tires, darting right in front of him. Sam shook his head.
That meant bad luck for sure--or, if he was lucky, it just canceled out the
ladybug. He drove more carefully than usual, unsure as to what fate had in
store for him. He barely made it to the marina on time and had to run straight
to the dock to prep the boats for the tours scheduled that day. As he stacked
the life jackets, he was startled to discover that he wasn't alone. A woman in
cutoff shorts with streaked brown hair was stocking the boats with drinks. She
turned around and gave him a dazzling smile.
"Hi, I just started working,
today's my first day. Did you see those fish jumping out there--amazing! And
the sun sparkling on the water, isn't it just beautiful? Oh, I forgot to
introduce myself, I'm Samantha, but call me Sam. What's your name?"
As the fog in his head cleared away,
Sam laughed out loud. He knew this was the last sign he would ever need. And it
wasn't confusing at all.
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