Solving the Puzzle and Living Happily Ever After

The house sat back from the street, hidden by trees and bushes that hadn’t been trimmed in years. Inside the small two-bedroom house, Edna sat at her desk with a book of spells opened in front of her.

Edna wheezed and coughed up a mouthful of blood into a handkerchief sitting wadded up on the desk. She raised her hands in the air, then the witch cursed her house and everything in it.

She died alone two days later. After weeks of not answering her phone, or emptying her mailbox. The police did a welfare check. No one wanted her possessions. Her family disowned her years ago, and her Coven moved on without her.

She didn’t leave a will, so her belongings went to an Estate Auction house, and sold piece by cursed piece.

There was a Rubik’s Cube that Edna bought years ago. She would play with the puzzle for hours. She thought of spells and curses to place on the people she didn’t like, which included almost everyone she met.

The Rubik’s Cube ended up on the shelf of a Thrift Store surrounded by other old toys. It sat on the shelf for weeks, until George walked in.

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“What a bunch of crap,” George thought, as he walked the aisles of the small Thrift store. He saw the Rubik’s Cube. The tiles were worn and faded, and when he picked it up the rows shifted because the game was falling apart.

He picked up the broken game. He took it to the counter. Where a wizened old man. Who Rheumy eyes and tobacco-stained fingers looked up from a girly magazine and asked. “find anything you like?”

“Yeah, I did,” George answered. How much for this Rubik’s Cube?” He had to have it, he couldn’t wait to get it home and solve the puzzle over and over again. His jaw dropped when the man behind the counter told him the price.

The cashier coughed and lit a cigarette he took from a pack sitting on the counter. He took a deep drag, then squinted at George through the smoke. “One hundred bucks.”

You got to be kidding me.” George yelled. “It’s a piece of crap, what the Hell is wrong with you?” The cashier didn't get angry at George's attitude, he smoked his cigarette, and smiled.

“You want it, and you will pay for it, so why fight it?” He said as he blew more smoke into George’s face. “ So you know, it’s a magic Rubik’s Cube, it blesses everyone who plays it, and it has made people rich.”

George rolled his eyes. “Then why is it here in this dump broken down and forgotten?” George reached for his wallet and took out a hundred-dollar bill.

“It’s part of the blessing.” The cashier answered as he took the bill from George’s hand. The witch that blessed it, wanted to spread happiness after she died, so this is her gift to the world.”

“Visualize and say out loud what you want, while you play the game, and it will happen for you, no strings attached.” The cashier handed the cube to George and went back to his magazine.

That night George cooked a big dinner, then after he ate, he sat down in his favorite chair and lit a cigar. “Blesses everyone, yeah right.” He laughed as he picked up the cube and began turning the rows of squares.

“I wish that I win all the hands at the poker game tonight.” He whispered as he turned the rows of colored squares. He pictured with pleasure, the angry yells of his poker buddies as they lost hand after hand.

“I wish that my boss would die and that I got his job.” He didn’t notice as the Rubik’s Cube grew hotter in his hands. "I wish that his Executive Assistant would fall in love with me.”

The cigar was forgotten in the ashtray. George fell into a deep sleep until he woke up with a start with enough time to make it to the poker game.

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George smiled as he gathered up the pile of bills and loose change in front of him. “Sorry about that boys.” He yelled as he stopped stacking money long enough to sip his Bourbon and take a drag from his cigar.

The four men sitting around George stared at the table, not looking up as their friend rubbed it in. “I guess it wasn’t your night.” George laughed as the men sitting around stood up together, with three of them heading for the door.

Eric, the host of the poker party looked at George with a frown. “Damn George, did you have to be a jerk about it? We all have good and bad nights, but it’s not cool to rub the loser’s noses in it.”

“Screw them,” George answered, as he headed to the door with his pockets bulging. “If they can’t handle losing, they don’t need to play the game.” Eric shook his head, as he led George to the door.

The next day. George was on the phone, cajoling a client into buying a shipment of plumbing equipment. that the client didn’t need. He hung up the phone after making a sale that would earn him a commission and bonus.

Before he made another sale call. George looked at His supervisor’s office. Watching as Lupe the Executive Assistant, walked around her desk. her hips swaying in her too-short skirt.

“I will have her, and Frank’s job soon.” George thought as he remembered the wishes he made with the Rubik’s cube. He had picked up the phone to make another sale call when Lupe screamed.

George looked up in time to see Frank on the floor holding his chest, as Lupe squatted down to see if she could help him. She stood up and picked the phone up from the desk and called 911.

After Frank’s death, no one was surprised when the top salesman of the past two quarters got promoted to the job. George sat in his new office, watching Lupe as she bent to get a file from the bottom drawer of a file cabinet.

“Hey, Lupe,” George said as he watched her dig through the file cabinet. “Can I buy you a drink after work?” George waited for her answer, smiling.

That’s how it started, a relationship with a mutual understanding. Lupe wanted raises and cash on the side, and George wanted a beautiful woman. Neither of them took into account Jorge, Lupe’s jealous husband.

Jorge grew tired of eating warmed-over leftovers several nights a week. He went to the office where George and Lupe worked. He followed them as they left in their cars and went to a nearby motel.

He watched as they stayed in the room for over an hour. Jorge checked the glove compartment. The semi-automatic was there, with a full magazine. Jorge got out of the car, then he walked to the door of the motel room, and knocked on the door.

They didn’t answer, Jorge looked around, and seeing no one, he took out his gun and shot the lock off the door. He ran into the room where Lupe and her boss laid naked on the bed.

The witnesses heard the shots and screams, and a few of them peaked out their motel room windows. They called 911, with Jorge’s description and the license number of his car.

Jorge was caught and spent the rest of his life in prison. The Rubik’s Cube was picked up by a cleaning lady in the Motel room. She threw it in the plastic trash bag on her cart, then it ended up at the city dump.

The Rubik’s cube couldn’t be destroyed. An employee grabbed it from a conveyor belt. As it headed toward a compactor and took it home that night, where it stayed until the man’s death.

The cashier looked up through a haze of cigarette smoke. Smiling at the woman in her faded jeans and worn-out t-shirt. “What can I get you?” He asked.

“How much is this Rubik’s cube?” She asked as she clutched it in her hand. “I have to have it.” She said as she dug bills and loose change from her pockets.

“For you, five dollars.” The cashier said as he held out his hand for the five-dollar bill that was in the woman’s hand. “That toy has special powers.” He said as he watched the woman stare at the broken toy. Visualize and say out loud what you want while playing the game, and your desires will come true.”

When the woman left the store, it disappeared. It left no evidence of being there, and soon the neighboring store owners forgot it was there at all.

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