A stroke of luck and a little black book

A stroke of luck and a little black book

By Nalini Rai

It’s crazy to think that this all started with a wish! What were the chances!

I was suppose to get out at 8pm today but thanks to Nadine... you know the type right? The one that “works to see how regular people make their living because daddy wants to teacher her a lesson” type . Well , she needed to get tanned so I got stuck with the double shift. The only good thing about it is ...well is it really working when you are working with your best friend?

Ellie was simply the best! We met in middle school and have been inseparable ever since! Her mom is like my mom, strong independent “I don’t need a man” type. But at the same time , every man in the town are their men. And their men are each other man...get where I’m going with this?

We went through a hard time growing up, getting an education and going to college was on our list of priorities but it wasn’t high enough. Finding food to Eat and keeping a roof over our heads were higher up . We made it to High School, but that’s as far as we got. Ellie had decided to leave home as soon as we turned 16 .

Her mom man wanted to become her man and I was afraid he would want to be my man soon . So before we where totally fucked , we left. Now , Living in a one bedroom , 1 bath apartment , putting a sock on the door style complex, trying to keep our heads above water type of life style .

It’s going to be 5 yrs of this tonight actually and it’s beginning to look like we are destined for this life. A hard life, one that ,oddly enough feels like we are beginning to go down that road as the one of the two women we left behind. So now, here we are, two waitresses, both strong , independent , brave , don’t take shit from no one , need a man but never each other man kinda women. Pulling double and sometimes triple shifts so we float.

You know what’s funny, Ellie and my birthday are 11min 11seconds apart on the 11 month of the 11 days . So every time we find ourself together, we made it to be religious now , at 11:11 we close our eyes and make a wish. Nothing ever comes of it, but we still do it to this day and we always wish for the same thing every time. We wish for eleven million dollars and to win the lottery on our birthday for the next 11 yrs of our lives.

Yes, I know! way to be specific but I’m a woman of numbers and a strong believer in the universe and the power of a wish! So now, here we are, two waitresses, “both strong , independent , brave , don’t take shit from no one , need a man but never each other man, wishing upon a star” kinda women. Closing our eyes and wishing for 11 million dollars, and for us to win the lotto for the next 11 yrs of our lives and it just happens to be on 11/11/11 at 11:11pm.

This time wasn’t like the other times, this time something happened. We open our eyes and found an old man dressed in a top hat, rain coat , all black and dripping wet sitting in my station and his face reflecting the mirror wall by Ellie’s section.

As I stared at him through the mirror I remember thinking, that’s odd, it wasn’t raining out. His eyes were piercing blue, his glasses sitting at the tip of his nose, skin under his chin sagged and water dripping down his face , around his neck and stopped at his collar. He shook his sleeves off before taking off his coat and hat. Resting it on a black duffel bag that he placed next to him on the table where he sat. Just then He caught my eyes in the reflection of the mirror studying his demeanor.

I averted his gaze and jumped off my stool knocking over several of the salt shaker I’d just filled. I frantically brushed it off. Noticing he wasn’t looking , maybe to save me some more embarrassment I took two deep breaths and calmly attempted to greet him at his table .

In a soft and gentle tone of voice, before I could get to finish my “hi, welcome to Toni’s diner” sepal he said “my child, if I can have a glass of water and point me to the restroom” . It was the most amazing sound I’ve ever heard. I responded with a simple nod and pointed to the red neon arrow that spelt bathroom to the right of the cashier. Just then , I heard a clatter from behind the dessert show case and noticed Ellie fainted.

I ran over to her but it felt as though the air around me froze. From the corner of my eye, I see in the mirror of the mans reflection was wings...angel wings. They flapped and everything when white .

I imagined that this is how it feels to have your heart stopped. It’s like you are struggling to release a breath with your mouth, nose and ears blocked. Everything becomes muffled and your heart beat steadily slows. You can hear it, your heart beat stopping. It felt like we were in that state of freeze for what seemed like forever. In reality it mustn’t have been no more than A minute.

The next thing Ellie and I knew , is that I found myself sitting on a blue bar stool, in a red fishnet stockings , knee thigh high blue skirt and red t-shirt with blue suspenders and pouring salt. Ellie was dressed identical and standing by the dessert display with a slice of our Famous classic cheese cake for the couple sitting by the far left window holding hands and sipping on a Milk shake Sunday. I thought to myself ...woah what a weird day dream .

I glanced over my shoulder and felt a punch to my stomach. There, on table number 3 was a black duffel bag along with a black trench coat and hat. I hesitated for a moment frozen once again and right then my eyes caught a note on a small piece of white card. Written on it was the following “all you need is a stroke of luck and a little black book” .

I looked up from the note and at Ellie’s reflection in the mirror. Our eyes met and I knew Ellie understood my confusion. She strutted over in one swift motion and grabbed the bag, I held on to the note and grabbed the coat and glove as she tugged me with her left hand straight into the restroom.

The coat was still moist from the rain. Unconsciously my hand brought the hat to my nose, it was a familiar scent , like your dad right after he comes out of the shower. We don’t know what the Smell smells like but if you smelt it you would know.

I sat the clothing on the bathroom sink and we both grabbed a zip and pulled it open. Inside was several $100 stacks. From what I could tell, it looked like millions. And right on the top, laid a little black book, banded with a thick leather strap with symbol of what I can only describe as a wand , Ellie says it’s a cigarette. Sticking out was a single white paper with red writing.

It was a ticket for tonight’s lottery game . Tucked in the leather strap of the little black book was another note that read “happy birthday ladies” and inside the notebook were a list of numbers . Ellie and I stared at the number and then back at each other.

Just then , the tv from behind the diner cashier echoed tonight’s winning lotto numbers…0,1,11,10,21 and 11 . My hand hands shook . The Mega million ticket our mystery guest left behind matched the numbers being called on the tv. Number for number! We were double time rich! Ellie streaked, and started Jumping up and down . I tried to keep my composure …I had too many question about the events of this evening . I may be a woman of many believes but I’m also a woman of skepticism. She pinched me, my head spun around and that’s when I know …this , this wasn’t a dream! We were rich!