Bad Luck, Good Luck, Whatever

“Life has thrown so many obstacles in my path. Enough to make me quit on my dreams. I still haven’t pulled them from oblivion but I’m moving forward again. So, long as we move forward there’s always a chance that luck can swing in our favour, right.”

I wrote this story in answer to the following prompts:
AuthorWorld – First line.
Word of the Day Challenge — Fresh

Bad Luck, Good Luck, Whatever

“Today I awoke and realised that the world is my oyster. If I want it, I’ve got to take it. I have to drive myself forwards to my end goal, one step at a time. My goal is simply to knock down the obstacles in my way and grab my success by the brass ring.

Swelled with confidence, I dressed in my smartest suit and left the bedroom. My foot slipped on the dog’s bone and I hit every bleeding step as I thundered straight down the stairs.

Bruised but unfazed, I walked somewhat lopsidedly into the kitchen. Filling a bowl with cereal, I opened the fridge for milk. There wasn’t a fresh bottle to be seen.

Taking eggs out, I put the pan with some oil on the heat. So, long as you’ve got eggs you’ve always got a meal. I made coffee first. Turning back on the stove, I was in time to see the oil ignite with a whoomph. The flames hit the ceiling and set my tie ablaze. Unperturbed, I extinguished myself and threw a wet towel over the flaming pan.

Leaving the kitchen, I took the batteries out of the fire alarm. That noise drove me nuts!  

“Woof!” said Buster my Labrador sitting beside me.

“Oh, yeah. You have breakfast. It’s me going without as usual,” I told him as I abandoned breakfast. No good succeeding on a full belly anyway, right?

I gave Buster his can of meat, pulled on my shoes and left for the day. It had been raining last night but the sun was out this morning. I walked down to the curb to get into my car.

A van roared past, its wheel spinning in a puddle and spraying me with mud and water.

Brushing myself down I let out a sigh, “Oh, well. A little mud never ruined anyone’s day, right?”

Climbing into my car, I inserted a key into the ignition and turned the engine over. Silence. Of course, the battery was dead. Alighting, I shook my head at the bonnet and set off down the road whistling to myself. “These little things are sent to try us. Just smile and carry on.”

I was forced to wait an hour, but I finally caught the bus. In fact, I had to catch three to make it to work; thanks to the first two breaking down.

The bus got me within three hundred yards of my office. I smiled, I was gonna make this day successful if it killed me. Walking along the pavement I heard a graunching bang from a dustcart I was passing.

A dustbin jammed in the mechanism. It tore with a horrendous crack and dumped its contents all over me. Rotten food, ash, paint, beer and a lot of other unrecognisable gunk; right over my head.

“Sorry, buddy! Send the bill to the council. They pay for the dry-cleaning,” said the binman hiding a smirk.

“Damn right they will.” I smiled and walked on, “Have a good day, mate.”

“Wow! I thought, he was going to clobber you!” said the driver.

I smiled at him. “Nah, he who walks through fire and a waterfall of shit while still smiling will succeed smelling of roses, right?”

“Not, from where I’m standing!” The binman pinched his nose.

Leaving them behind, I turned into the office car park smelling as fresh as Buster’s evening turd. Waving to receptionist Clarissa as she climbed from her car, I turned and wham. Faceplant — right into a stop sign!

“Ouch! You okay, Marvin?” Clarissa called.

“Oh, yes!” Nose bleeding, I seized the sign and tore it from the ground. With a groan of frustration, I hurled it across a lawned area. It cartwheeled once and speared right through the back window of my bosses Mercedes. “When life put obstacles in your way, knock them down and march right on forward!” I added as I finally made it into the office.

I didn’t make it to my desk before my boss Penelope caught up with me.

“Marvin, why did you throw a stop sign through my car window?”

I spread my hands and shrugged, “It got in the way of my life, what can I say?”

Penelope narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose towards me, “Marvin, what’s going on? Your ties burned. You have a missing eyebrow. You’re covered in stinking slop and rubbish. Your nose is bleeding and you trashed my car. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yes, perfectly.” Sitting at my desk, I logged into my computer. “You see, success is not measured by your level of attainment but by all the obstacles you walk through to reach it. Today I’m going to succeed no matter what!”

“Well, you can’t work like that. I mean you stink and look like hell,” Penelope took a step back from me.

“That’s because I walked through hell to get here this morning dear, Penelope,” I said with an air of conference once more. “I’m just going to keep walking forward because there is heaven at the end of my path.”

“There’s about to be an unemployment centre on your path, I’ll tell you that much!”

“If I must take a wrong turn through a job centre, then I shall take it with pride and use it to get me to the right place,” I said as I accidentally sent my day’s assignments to the recycle bin. Bringing up my emails, I grinned from ear to ear.

Penelope was fuming beside my desk, “That’s it, Marvin. You’re Fi—”

“Fi-nally getting promoted!” I finished for her as I revealed my promotion email on the screen. “I start on Monday. I’m going home.” Getting to my feet I walked out of the office, ducked under a ladder and left the building.

“You see, good luck and fortune is just bad luck and misfortune with its hair combed straight. Comb your hair in the direction you want to go and no matter what you’ll get there in the end!”   

The End

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My story ‘Oracle Train’ is doing battle for a place in an anthology. Please come and vote for and support me at Purple Wall – Vote Now! and thank you for the support!

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Thanks for reading my friends.

There’s more in the Poetry Corner, Poetry Nook, Short Stories, Short Stories 2, and, Short Stories 3 tabs.

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