There are some people who are
incredibly lucky. I am not one of those
people. I’m not even simply
unlucky. I’m so far off the luck scale
that if it were an eye chart, it’d be invisible. As a result, I never participate in anything
that requires simple luck to come out on top.
My son, on the other hand, wins
anything and everything he happens to glance at. Case in point….as a young lad of about ten he
accompanied us to a company Christmas party.
For the enjoyment and excitement of all the kidlets who were attending,
the company had purchased a Christmas stocking which was to be raffled later in
the day.
The stocking was gigantic. It was at least ten feet high and about five
feet across. It was loaded with
everything a young child might wish for…electronics, board games, toy cars of
various makes and models, dolls, baseballs and basketballs, a couple of tennis
rackets, books, soft toys, candy by the boxful, even clothes.
As each child entered the premises,
they were given a ticket for the draw. My
son was given ticket #1. Now I ask
you. If someone gave you the very first
ticket off a batch of several hundred, what would you think were your chances
of winning? My son, Mr. Confidence
personified, kept telling me that he was going to win and would not be greedy
but would share his winnings with his sister.
Very noble thought, but I hated to burst his bubble by telling him his
chances of winning were about zip. Come
on…he had ticket #1!!!
But no, the luck fairy smiled and my
son won the stocking!
In another instance, a TV game show
asked viewers to send in questions to be asked of contestants. Each question used but not correctly answered
by the contestant, would win for the question submitter between $20 and $50;
the question placed in the middle of the board would win for the submitter, $500.
Need I even say that my son submitted one
question and out of the thousands and thousands that were sent in, his was
chosen…and chosen to be the $500 question?
The contestant failed to answer correctly and my son was 500 smackeroos
richer before the end of the show.
On the other hand, one of the first
times I ever participated in anything to do with luck, I was about twelve. My Mamma had taken my little sister and me to
a local Fair. The place was loaded with
gorgeous artisan created goodies.
Everything from beautifully knitted sweaters, scarves and beanies to
elaborately embroidered table cloths, cushions and of course dozens of pottery
items just waiting for a home.
Our two shilling entry fee had also
garnered for each attendee a ticket for one of the items on display. ‘Everyone wins something,’ yelled the Fair’s organizers. Sounded like a ‘can’t miss’ situation to
me. Woo hoo!
In among all the bounty dazzling our
eyes was a small cage with a cackling and very much alive chook inside. Chook is Aussie speak for a chicken that is
past the cute, fluffy yellow stage. As
we passed the cage, I glanced up at Mamma and said, ‘I don’t care what I win,
as long as it isn’t that chook!’
Some hours later as we bumped home in
the half empty bus, I stared at the cage on my lap and the quite angry looking
chook staring back at me. The one and
only time in my life I ever won anything and it had to be a live chook!
But she did taste quite nice when we
had her for dinner some days later, so I guess it wasn’t a total loss.
