Manufactured Luck

Fire. Heat. Not just any heat, Immense heat. Like being stuck into an oven on broil, on, no IN a volcano.... On the surface of the sun.

"There is no way anything can get THIS hot...... Is there?!?" thought Gregory to himself.

In a fleeting moment all the heat rushed away and was replaced with the feeling of a cool liquid rushing through his veins. First his finger and toe tips, slowly reaching, crawling its way up his appendages. Once it reached his knees and elbows, it shot like a freight train into his center of mass.

"I need to take control of this now." Gregory was willing himself with all his might to open his eyes and see what was around him.

With his body waking up from the emergency reboot, his motor functions were still warming up and waiting for his neurons to start firing correctly. This isn't the first time he has had to go through this.

"Get that flashlight out of my face, I'm fine. I was adjusting, back off Sonya!"

"Heh, Sorry Greg, I'm making sure you aren't dead, I can just leave you here if you'd prefer that" Sonya jest.

"You know how I get when it takes this long."

"I saw it had a silver exterior and black wheels." Sonya explained "But I don't think it had a license marker. And we aren't near any buildings to ask for a recording."

"Aahhhhh leave it be Sonny, I'm fine. It was just the mirror. I'm fine, I swear." Said Greg dismissingly.

"There is NO WAY I'm going to let that go, the van just HIT you!"

"I've been through worse, just let it go, lets keep jogging."

Shaking her head in a non compliant fashion, she stared at Greg like the crazy bat he is, and shook her head again as she started to jog away.

"They did more damage to their car then they did to me! Its not a big deal, let's just finish and go home." Greg proclaimed as he was looking at the broken mirror and bits of plastic on the side of the road.

Sonya said nothing to Greg the rest of the outing, other than when she needed some water.

The next morning, it was a bright and sunny Sunday, mid day with a light moisture imbued into the crisp fall air. Like the bite of an apple sitting out on a cold winter day, a slight sweetness filled the air.

Gregory pulled his coat a little closer, not expecting this degree of cold for another week or two. As he re centered his view, the familiar scent of the bank filled his nostrils.

"Welcome to The Coddington Bank and Trust!"

He nodded and proceeded to the counter.

"Hey there Daisy, how are you on this fine morning?"

"I'm doing well Greg, how are you? And Sonny, how is she doing?"

"She has been alright, bright and shiny as always." He smiled warmly

Daisy returned the gesture. "I need to come see the new room addition, she keep telling me about the bed frame you two crafted. So what can I help you with today Greggy?"

"I just came to drop this check off and see how you were doing, let you know we are having a roast tonight and you are more than welcome to stop by when you are done here."

"Thank you Greg" reaching for the slip of signed paper from Greg. "I'll definitely come by, I never can resist one of your robust rump roast riots!"

"Great! Ill tell Sonya to be expecting you! I'll see you later Daisy!"

"Hey beautiful woman, how are you?" Daisy said to Sonya

"I've been expletive! how about yourself my dear?"

"Such fancy words! Ooooooh! Well aren't we in for a special evening!" Handing Sonya a bottle of Blackberry mead and giving her hips a slight sway in a playful manner.

"Awwwe you shouldn't have, you know I love mead darling."

"A special drink for a special night! I cant wait to see what you have prepared, you always seem to out do yourself with every visit!"

"You know how we feel about food in this household. The recent addition of the induction stove has made cooking so much quicker and flavorful. I swear the magnets add a special zing to sauces!" Sonya exclaimed

"Oh delicious, I cant wait to see the main course."

"And just what do we think is going on here ladies?"

they giggled and looked at Greg and then shared a look and then kept laughing. "Well don't eat all the bread before I get my hands on some cheese!"

Greg and Sonya locked eyes for a moment and shared a thought. Unbeknownst to Daisy, Greg and Sonya have been planning an infiltration into the bank and now had a reason top after Greg was hit by a van and needed expensive circuitry work.

They must not let on. Easier said than done when Daisy and Sonya have been friends for so long.

With everything that was being planned, they didn't want to risk Daisy with involvement.

After eating and sharing a game of poker between friends, Daisy pulled through when everyone had gone all in with a pair of queens and three tens making a full house that destroyed Greg's three kings. Darn! Greg thought, knowing he had been beaten.

A few more games.... and bottle of wine later, the three had decided it was time to call it a night.

Greg awoke Sonya with a gentle kiss on the forehead. "I made you some breakfast. Coffee, cream and 3 sugars! just the way you love it!"

"That's nice and very thoughtful of you dear! You are the real treat this morning, love. So what are you feeling about tonight?" Greg replied, "I am very confident everything will go as planned. We really need this money for some rewiring after the car accident. Although

I do prefer not having horrendous brain fog after a night of drinking!" "Is that why you are awake so much earlier than me darling?" Sonya inquired with a loving smile. "Yes my love, I don't know what happened, but I am not looking forward to seeing the negative outcomes

of a strong, unscheduled percussive maintenance appointment! They surely were not calibrated for my hardware specifications!" Sonya and Greg shared a laugh and then both felt the more pressure of a more important matter at hand.

A long day of prep and rehearsal was ahead if they were to achieve this heist successfully. And they both knew that. "So why are we taking so much again? We only need a couple more thousand for the procedure, nowhere near a million?!"

"We must not only take care of the moment, but the future as well. After we will be highly sought after criminals. We are not able to resume our normal lives again darling. We need a security net to hold us as we rebuild somewhere, away from the powers that seek to destroy us"

Sonya thought about his response as she sipped her coffee. "true darling, but how do we know the government will not be able to find you? Do you even know if they have a GPS tracker on your circuit board?" Greg answered "I do not really know the extent of what they are

capable of. They may even be tracking my thought and have constructed a plan to stop and apprehend us before we even start! Highly unlikely but....." Sonya cut him off with a worried gasp "Don't worry my love, I was only exaggerating! I am not aware of everything,

but most of it is declassified to me. There are a few lines that are blacked out, but not enough to warrant enough suspicion about mind reading and recording. Maybe GPS, but the man doing the rewire also is very skilled at identifying chip sets, we WILL have an answer after

we..... I mean I have the surgery!" "And he will be able to take care of a GPS tracker if there is one?" Sonya worriedly asked. "Yes! Yes! Yes, my love! Unless there was a new tracker to come out in the past week and a half, he is able to take care of it. Please do not worry,

I can feel my anxiety circuits warming up." Sonya conceded and took another sip of her coffee. The brief silence relaxed their shoulders and gave a chance for the conversation to settle in further. "I am very appreciative of the breakfast darling, not all of us can take a hit from

a 2 ton vehicle, get up and walk away, AND it cures their hangovers." "Yeah, I guess you ARE right love, there are some silver linings" Greg got up and walked to the kitchen to get himself a glass of cold, whole milk and continue thinking about his daring plan.

He noticed a small mess in front of the wall in the living room near the coffee table and wall. "Honey! Did you forget to clean up a mess in the living room last night?" yelled Greg. He waited for a response but none came back so he yelled again, "Honey? A mess in the living room?"

Again, there was no response. He decided to brush it off and clean up the mess and investigate further after cleaning. A few items had fallen from the table, but Greg wasn't sure what had knocked them off the sturdy mahogany and marble coffee table. After he picked up the few papers, a cup, and picture frame and rearranged them on the table, he noticed a small black object peeking from under the

couch skirt. "I wonder what that is?" he thought to himself as he leaned down to pick it up. "Why hasn't Sonya answered me yet?" he mumbled.

"You really must get your rest if we are to have any sort of luck tonight." "I know, I know darling, hand me the orange juice please. And please do not worry, I will be alright. This hasn't happened since I was a child, but I was always alright." She took a giant chug of

orange juice "What is that in your hand?" Greg had forgotten completely about the book and wondered if he was holding it the whole time, must have been if it is in his hands now! "Oh, I found it under the couch. It had fallen and knocked off the picture frame

from the living room coffee table." "What a funny thing to happen, everything looked fine when I was dusting yesterday!" "What I find funny, I have never seen this little black book before, it has a very rough texture I would remember. Call me crazy but it almost feels like mole skin!" "Well if you

don't know what it is, maybe we should give it a look to see what it is all about, seeing as how it came in and wrecked our place!" Sonya teased "You're very right Sonny, we should!" He handed the bound pages to Sonya gesturing that she be the one to open it. She happily accepted and smiled at Greg as she

opened the book. Greg had a surprised look on his face and broke eye contact to look down at something grabbing at his attention. A small slip of paper, slightly larger than a book mark had fallen out on to her lap. "That's a funny looking bookmark love, it looks like the back of a check!" Sonya exclaimed while letting out a snort

"That's because it is a check darling! And it has my name on it!" Greg said as he grabbed the check from her not so firm grasp. "And it is for $20,000! More than enough to pay for the surgery AND to have a nice vacation afterwards!" "Oh darling, this is EXACTLY what we need right now! Who is it from though

I wonder!?"