LUCKY

LUCKY

*Knocking sound*

“Lucky?! You woke? C’mon get up, you don’t want to be late for your last day of high school,” said Lucky’s grandmother.

“Ok grandma, I’m getting up,” said Lucky. As he dragged his way to the bathroom, he glanced at the picture of his parents posted on the hallway as usual, except this time, tears began to fill his eyes.

“Hurry up Lucky, your breakfast is getting cold. I made your favorite today.”

“Coming,” he screamed as he began to wipe away the tears and entered the bathroom to brush his teeth. While eating breakfast his grandmother asked, “Have you made your decision on what college you want to attend?”

“No grandma,” he said. She had been asking him for weeks now about his final decision. He was the valedictorian of his high school and had offers from every Ivy League school in the nation. Thing was, Lucky was not motivated to go to college. His grandmother’s health was his only concern. She had been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for four years now and the wait was taking its toll on her.

As much as time was their biggest enemy, it was their friend too. Lucky needed time to earn the money needed to pay for his grandmother’s operation. Her insurance only covered 30% of her expenses, leaving her to pay the other 70% out of pocket. Ever since he overheard his aunt and uncle talking about her condition and the costs at Thanksgiving dinner four years ago, Lucky had been working. His first job was as a tutor. Going into high school, Lucky was placed in upperclassmen courses because of advanced classes he had already taken in middle school. This gained the attention from the football coach who approached Lucky and asked him if he would be able to tutor a few of the players on the team. Lucky only said yes at the time because the coach offered to compensate him since his son was one of the players who needed tutoring. Deciding to tutor some of the students turned out to be beneficial in the long run. He was able to build valuable friendships through it. Besides some of the upperclassmen offering him rides to school, he earned his second job through a friend whose dad owned a gas station. Thomas Stone was a standout football player who could not play football because he had to work the evening shift at his father’s gas station. Some of the guys on the team played youth football with him and they would brag about how good he was but was not allowed to play since he had to work. After speaking to Thomas’s dad and getting the coach to vouch for him, Lucky got the job at the gas station.

*Honking sound*

“Gotta go grandma that’s my ride.”

“Ok baby. Have a great last day of high school. I love you,” said his grandmother. Lucky went off to school to say his last farewells to his teachers and retrieve his diploma.

July 7th, 2021 (Lucky’s 18th Birthday/Family Annual Camping Trip)

*(8:30a) Alarm clock sounds*

Waking up early was not something Lucky was fond of. Today was exceptional because he was scheduled to take his road test. Passing meant he would become a licensed driver, enabling him to drive for Uber. He planned to drive overnight after he worked his shift at the gas station since he was out of school now. As he did his morning hygiene routine, he smelled his grandmother cooking breakfast in the kitchen. She was making him some apple cinnamon French toast with a bowl of fresh fruit, and orange juice. He went downstairs and was greeted with an enormous hug and kiss by his grandmother. “Happy 18th Birthday,” she said as she handed him over a birthday card and present. He opened the gift and saw his grandmother had gotten him a laptop. She thought he would be happier than he was since it would be a huge necessity for college, but she had no clue about his other plans. He thanked her and kissed her for the gifts. After breakfast, Lucky and his grandmother headed to his road test.

On the way to the site, his grandmother asked Lucky if he would like to go to the annual barbecue today after his test. Lucky simply replied, “No.” She said that it would be a great chance for him to see all the family before he goes off to college. Lucky had not been to a family barbecue since the death of his grandfather. On his 9th birthday at the annual barbecue, Lucky’s grandfather Harper died while saving him from drowning. Contemplating all of this, Lucky took a hard pause and thought about the news he had to break to his grandmother about his own future. He knew such news would devastate her so he figured by compromising now and deciding to go to the barbecue, it would alleviate the fact that he had decided not to further his education. As they turned into the site, he agreed that he would go, and his grandmother became full of joy.

Lucky and his grandmother were early so he got his road test pushed up from 10:00a to 9:30a. Lucky was nervous, but his determination to get another job superseded his anxiety. On his first attempt he passed. The instructor congratulated Lucky and gave him his documents. Leaving the site, Lucky’s grandmother allowed him to drive the full 3 hours from New York City to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware where the barbecue is held every year. Rehoboth is where his grandfather and grandfather's brother James grew up. Being that his grandfather’s brother moved back home when their parents became sick, he inherited the house and decided to hold family gatherings there on their parent’s anniversary, which happened to be the same day Lucky was born decades later.

On arrival, Lucky was greeted by all his relatives. Even though Lucky’s grandfather Harper had one younger brother, great grandpa Harper Sr. was one of eighteen children, giving his grandfather tons of first cousins. It was more than enough for everyone to participate in the many outdoor games like horseshoes, capture the flag, tug of war, dodgeball, and sack racing just to name a few. Lucky had no enthusiasm to participate in the activities. He still had not gotten over his grandfather’s death that he sometimes blames himself for. Instead, he sat and listened to his grandmother chat with some of the other women there at the barbecue about their favorite cooking and shopping shows. Every so often he would retrieve a little food for her to eat while she took her medication.

As Lucky was on the way to get his grandmother some napkins, his uncle James called out for him and signaled him to come into the house. Upon entering, Lucky was congratulated and greeted with a huge hug by his uncle. After hugging, Uncle James walked Lucky down into the basement to retrieve his graduation gift. He gifted him a large 42” smart TV for his dorm room and $2,000. In Lucky’s mind he saw no use for the tv since he was not going to college, but the $2,000 could go to his first car so he can drive for Uber. He thanked him and they hugged again.

When they disengaged, Lucky started inquiring about some of the boxes in the basement. Uncle James told him it was some of his grandfather’s old stuff as he scanned through the boxes of items. In one of the boxes, he noticed an old picture of his grandparents. Must have been from their high school prom because they looked so young in the picture. He found his grandfather’s high school yearbook, a picture of his grandparents holding his mother as a baby, and many other items including a little black book titled Citation Puissantes. Since Lucky took French as a sophomore in high school, he knew the title translated into Powerful Quotes. Harper started writing quotes to deal with his daughter’s death. He composed 30 quotes in total, one for each day of the month. He would recite one every day until the day of his death. Lucky never got to meet his parents. His mom Heather and dad Chance died in a car accident the day of their wedding. He was saved through emergency surgery and was born six months early.

As he flipped through the little black book, he noticed the quotes were numbered from one to thirty and certain quotes had their numbers circled. Quotes 3, 5, 9, 11, and 25 were specifically circled. When he got to the last page, he learned the significance of these numbers. On the last page his grandfather had “LUCKY” spelled out. He realized each number represented a letter in his name. These circled quotes also happened to be his grandfather’s favorite quotes. Lucky pocketed the book. On the ride home, he broke the news to his grandmother. He let her know that he knew she was ill and that was his reason he was deciding not to go to college. His grandmother never told Lucky about her illness because she did not want to put any more stress on him then he already had. From the conviction in his voice, she knew his mind was already made up. She ended the conversation and they drove home in silence.

The next day, Lucky woke up and started really reading the quotes his grandfather made. “Your mind is a weapon. Activate it, find your target, and destroy all limitations,” and “the mind is the most powerful weapon, you conquer it, you conquer all”, were some of the quotes he read. He grew infatuated by this little book. He did not know if it was because the title was in French, or because his grandfather wrote these powerful quotes, or because of the symbolism behind his name. His curiosity drove him to ask his grandmother about the little book. She told Lucky that his grandfather started writing them in the hospital when they would visit him as a baby and by the time they were able to take him home, Harvey had written one for every day of the month. In addition to that, she mentioned to Lucky that his grandfather dreamt that he hit the lottery playing the numbers of his favorite quotes. He never actually won the lottery, but he would play every day up until the day he passed. Lucky remembered his grandfather would play the lotto. He remembered him playing it at the store next door to their favorite ice cream parlor.

Lucky snapped out of his daydream and went upstairs to get ready for his shift at the gas station. Since school was over, he started working the day shift at the gas station and would tutor in the evenings when the students went to after school help. Upon arrival, the first thing he did was play his grandfather’s numbers. After work, Lucky had made an appointment to check out a used car he came across online. While checking out the car, the owner said it was salvaged. This meant that the car had previously been in an accident and that thought alone nauseated Lucky. He decided not to purchase. Later that night while in his room browsing for used cars online Lucky heard his grandmother downstairs talking to the TV. Her favorite show “Wheel of Fortune” was on and whenever it was on, she turned into a participant. Only thing was, she participated from their living room. Lucky went downstairs to chuckle at the sight of his grandmother getting worked up over the show. He thought it kept her youthful and young on the inside. He felt that the competitive nature in her was the reason she was still fighting her illness. She was tough and tough she was.

While watching TV, he remembered he played the lotto earlier and the drawing always took place when the show went off. Lucky knew he probably would not win, but him learning that his grandfather once had a dream that he won the lotto playing those numbers was all the fuel he needed to play. As the show went off, Lucky walked his grandmother up to her room and retrieved his lotto ticket before heading back downstairs. Once downstairs the drawing of the lottery was on. He plopped down on the sofa and began to watch.

“Tonight’s Take 5 Jackpot is $20,000”, let us see if we draw winning numbers tonight. The first ball up...9... second ball up 11.... third ball up 3...Lucky looked down and saw three of the five numbers he chose had drawn.... He returned his focus back to the TV.... the fourth ball up...5.... Luckie was motionless... he was four out of five on the numbers and all he needed was the last ball to be a 25 and he would be the winner of $20,000.... and the last number is....25.... making tonight’s number 9, 11, 3, 5, & 25. He screamed so loud; his grandmother dropped her glass of water she kept on her nightstand.

“Grandma!!!! We won the lottery!!!!” He ran upstairs and jumped into his grandmother’s bed. “Grandma, grandma, we won!!!” She could not make sense of what he was saying until he settled down.

“Grandma, today I played grandpa's numbers at work and they won!!!” Her eyes lit up so wide Lucky thought she was experiencing a heart attack at first from the news, but she was just shocked. Lucky went and put on his grandfather’s old record player and they began dancing around her room full of joy. Lucky said to his grandmother, “Now grandma, we can afford the best treatment there is for you.”

“Why yes Lucky, yes, we can. This also means you can now go to college too,” said his grandmother. “Yes grandma”, I can go to college now too,” said Lucky as they began to dance the night away.

The end