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Luck
It was the dawning of a new era of mankind. It was a time of great things. It
was also just another day in the life of one of the simple peasant folk; who had
to get up and go slave away before his king. At the end of the day the peasant
would head off to feed the enraged hoards. He would then head home to his quiet
hut. He would meet with the Fairy Queen, her fairy princess, and her two little
goblin hordlings. Then finally he would fall into an enchanted sleep. He would
then do it again the next day, as he had for several years. This is his story.
The peasant's name was James Ward, and the king was his
boss at Intelligrit EnterprisesTM. James was also manager at the local
"Burger Barn." His quiet hut was a small three-bedroom home in the
middle of the vast suburbs. The Fairy Queen was his wife, Kathy, of seven years.
The princess was his daughter, Alicia, and the two goblins were his sons, Andy
and Don.
It was eight-fifty in the morning as he was on his way to
work. James had a meeting to be to in ten minutes and he was not moving. He was
stuck in traffic. He looked up, and saw the car in front of him move forward
several feet. He moved forward and waited again. He honked a few times, it
didn't do much, but it made him feel better. He repeated this process for
several more minutes, before his cell-phone rang.
"Hello, James here," he responded.
"This is Tom, where are you? The meeting is in five
minutes. You'd better be here this is a million dollar project. The CEO is
waiting, along with several hundred shareholders. This is top of the line
software," the voice said over the phone.
"I'm trying, I have several million cars in front of
me and they aren't moving. See if you can delay them or reschedule."
"We can't reschedule anymore. They are beginning to
doubt that we even have a product. I will try to delay. I am not going to let
you ruin this for me. Hurry up," the phone went dead.
James finally saw a break in traffic and sped forward. Fifteen minutes later
he was pulling into the company's employee parking lot. He jumped out of his
silver Honda and ran into the building. He decided not to wait for an elevator
and instead headed up the stairs. He ran down the third floor. Turn left and
rushed into the conference room. He was apologizing loudly to all of the
shareholders. He stopped immediately. The room was empty, aside for an empty box
of doughnuts and his boss, Tom.
"I am sorry, but I have to do this," his boss
said with a bit of fake sorrow, "This is the fourth time this week that you
have been late and I am hearing reports that you have been leaving early to work
at a burger place. I just can't have it, so… well… your fired."
James was stunned. He tried to say something, but all that came out was an
indistinct grunting noise. He sat down right there on the floor, his briefcase
beside him. He tried to think of something happy. He needed someone to say
something good. He wanted someone to tell him, "oh get up off the
floor." He wanted something. He didn't know what it was but he wanted it.
Finally he managed to mutter something, "say… good… floor… want…
happy… something… "
James heard a voice saying something, "I expect your
office cleaned out by this afternoon, and you can pick up your paycheck
then."
James sauntered out of the room. He headed to his office.
At his desk he looked at the picture of his family on his desk. He imagined the
tears in their eyes as he told them. Ten long years down the drain. He grabbed
all of his pictures and put them in his briefcase. He looked at a trophy he had
received in his first year. A small plaque read, "for a record amount of
hours worked in one week." It had been his seventh month working there. His
co-workers were all sick, and he was stuck covering for them. He was working
18-hour shifts. He had fallen asleep at work on Saturday. His boss had walked in
to see him lying asleep on his desk. He was afraid he was going to be fired for
sleeping on the job. Instead he had received the trophy, a small raise, and the
next week off. He stuffed it in his briefcase too. He cleared out his desk of
all the other personal items and put them in his briefcase. He then left the
room, picked up his paycheck, and head out to the parking lot. He looked out the
doors to see a silver Honda squeal out of the parking lot. It was in fact his
Honda squealing out of the parking lot. In his hurry to get to the meeting he
had left the keys in the car.
James ran out after the car screaming like a moron,
"GIVE ME BACK MY CAR… I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS… " He gave up after a
few minutes, and started brooding about what he was going to do. He looked
around and saw a pay phone. He searched his pockets and his briefcase for 35˘
he didn't find a single penny. He had left his wallet in the car, with his
cell-phone. He looked around again. He wandered back into the building. He
stopped at the front desk and asked if he could use the phone. He first called
the police and reported the stolen car.
James then called his wife. He explained what had
happened. She was constantly interrupting him to tell him how stupid he was.
Finally when he was through explaining he asked her, "can you come and pick
me up."
Kathy said, " I am afraid I can't I have all of your
sisters kids over and they just won't all fit in the car. I don’t know what to
do. I will come as soon as possible." She hung up.
James wandered back out side and looked around for the
third time. He looked down at his gold plated Rolex watch. It read,
"12:08.37." He walked down the street looking for some solution to his
problem. He thought of walking home but he really didn't want to arrive home
that late, and he still had to work at the Burger Barn. He looked across the
street. He saw a parcel delivery truck. It was just about to leave.
James snuck across the street. He talked to the driver and
asked if he could get a ride. The driver granted him a ride. James climbed in to
the back and sat among the boxes. He could feel the truck pull away from the
curb. It was several minutes later when he felt the truck make a violent turn.
James felt the truck crash into something. He flew forward and landed in the
pile of empty boxes, cutting his shoulder. He climbed up to the driver's seat.
He saw the driver lying against the steering wheel. He was unconscious. James
quickly climbed out the side door. The crash was brutal. A silver Honda was
lying upside down against the truck. The trucks entire front end was in a mess.
He looked closely at the silver Honda. It was his car. He looked for a driver in
the wreckage. He saw a young man of about twenty-three. The driver was awake but
couldn't move. His legs were crushed under the weight of the car.
James saw his wallet and cell-phone lying in front of the
passenger seat. He crawled in and grabbed them. He then called 911. He talked to
the thief and found that he was being trained to steal cars. He was supposed to
take the cars to a local scrap yard where the cars would be dismantled and sold
as scrap. This was his first time out in the field by himself. He also learned
that the thief's name was Jake.
5 minutes later the paramedics arrived. They pried Jake
out of the wreckage and then loaded him in one of the waiting ambulances. James
climbed in beside him.
At the hospital, Jake was taken to the ICU where he could
be watched until he recovered. James was taken into a waiting room where his
shoulder was stitched up and bandaged. He then used his cell-phone to call his
wife. She responded that she was on her way.
Ten minutes later he was walking towards the exit. His
wife pulled into the parking lot just as he reached the doors. He walked across
to her car, a small white Cadillac.
Twenty-five minutes later they were home. James had spent
the whole time telling his wife his story and trying to convince her that he had
to go and work at the "Burger Barn." She adamantly refused and
insisted that he needed to go to bed even though it was only four O'clock. He
tried to argue his point but she refused to listen. He climbed into bed and
turned on the TV. He flipped channels for a few minutes before deciding that
there was nothing on and turning it off.
James climbed out of bed, looked around for his wife, and
heard the doorbell. He went to answer the door. He opened the door and found to
his surprise a big guy standing on the door-step holding a big knife. James
asked if there was a problem.
"Oh, there is a big problem. Remember Nine years ago
there was a bug going around and everybody got it but you," the guy
responded.
"Yes, I remember I received a trophy for working
late."
"I didn't get the bug either. I was working just as
hard as you were. I stayed up late, got there early and worked all day Saturday,
while you were sleeping. I also didn't get a trophy. I have come to claim
justice."
"You can have the trophy, I was fired just
today."
"So you aren't being loyal to the company, and are
given away items of value. I think it is time that you meet your fate."
The guy suddenly lunged for James, the knife slashing
through the air. The knife struck him in his sore shoulder knocking him sideways
off the step. James ran across the lawn, screaming. He tripped on the hose. He
looked up and saw Jake crossing the lawn. Jake pulled out a pistol. He pointed
it towards James and pulled the trigger. James screamed and tried to move. He
felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He heard a clicking noise and felt another
sharp pain in his right leg. He struggled to move to get away from the pain. He
heard a click and suddenly everything went black.
Jake walked back to his car with Eddy beside him. They
left James lying there on the ground. A stream of blood trickling down his face
from the bullet hole above his right eyebrow.
Thus the peasant was slain by the dragon. He would not get
up or go slave away before his king. At the end of the day the peasant would not
head off to feed the enraged hoards. He would not then head home to his quiet
hut. Nor would he meet with the Fairy Queen, her fairy princess, and her two
little goblin hordlings. He had fallen into the ultimate enchanted sleep. He
would never do it again the next day, nor ever again. Yet life returned to
normal. The King met with the council. The treasure was granted. The mighty
dragon returned to a life off stealing diamonds, Until one day when an even
mightier knight slew him. The Fairy Queen, her fairy princess, and her two
little goblin hordlings never ever got over the peasants death. They lived quiet
peaceful lives with the peasants spirit always watching over them.
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