7 comments/ 33456 views/ 1 favorites Run of Luck By: magmaman It was getting towards midnight, the goddamed night was cold and I was having no luck at all. So far I had managed to jack just 3 cars, coming up with a total of under $1.00 in coins and a cheap pocketknife. I was getting discouraged, I needed something to drink and it was beginning to look like I really would have to go without. I turned a corner and started across the street when I spotted the old man sitting on a bench in front of the local park. I slipped back into the shadows and watched for awhile, making sure no one else was around before making my move. The old man looked up at me as I appeared in front of him, he didn't seem concerned. "Got any money, bud?" I glared at him. Acting mean works very well, get the fucker to give up his money without a fight is always the best way to do it. "I have very little, sir." His eyes took me in, he just sat there. "Hand it over!" I demanded, threatening now. He just sat there, looking at me. I jerked him to his feet, patted him down taking care to watch for a gun or a blade. The only thing he had was a tattered old wallet, I took it and ran. Odd, he didn't struggle or complain, and he didn't even seem to be afraid but I dismissed that. I was several blocks away when I slipped behind some bushes and checked the wallet. There was $11.00, a fucking score the way things had been going. I headed off to the little store on the corner, got there just in time as they were closing, grabbed a bottle of wine and headed back to my room. I had half the bottle down by the time I made it to the creaky dark stairway that led up to my hovel. Inside, I finished the wine and plopped down on my cot feeling well again, then I slept. The next morning I inspected the wallet more closely, there was nothing in it but a business card. I read the words, "If found call me, the reward is anything you wish." Then a phone number. I threw the thing in a drawer and promptly forgot about it, heading out to see what the day would bring. I had a pretty good day, some stupid asshole left a briefcase and a paper bag on the seat of his car, I broke the side window and grabbed them. Then I hit the trunk button and found a small toolbox. I sold the briefcase and tools at the hock shop down the street, netting $10.00, ate the sandwich and Banana that was in the paper bag. I was feeling pretty good by then, things were looking up. Another $20 and I would have my week's rent to give to the fat cocksucker that ran the building I lived in. The piece of shit was always hinting that if I would let him blow me I could get half off the rent, fuck that. I stopped at the corner store and bought another jug of wine, then headed to my room to wait for dark. I was halfway through the bottle when I thought of the wallet. I looked at it, poked the linings carefully, just in case. Nothing, just that fucking card. I picked it up and read it again. "If found, call me, the reward is anything you wish." Then just a fucking phone number. Just what the fuck did THAT mean? I went down to the corner pay phone, stuck the $0.35 I didn't want to spend in and dialed. It barely rang before it was picked up. "Do you have it?" "The wallet? Yea, I got it, what's the reward?" "Anything you wish." "What does that mean?" I demanded. "Return the wallet, I will grant anything you wish." "Yea, sure, I could use a little luck." I laughed, sarcastically. "Very well. That is granted. Return the wallet, please." I just hung up, the asshole couldn't think I was stupid enough to show up and have the cops waiting for me. I stuffed the wallet in my pocket and headed out to find something I could sell. Coming around the corner a few hours later, I spotted the old man sitting on the same park bench. I looked around, the coast was clear, so I walked up to him. I jerked him to his feet, he didn't resist. I patted him down hoping for some more cash, nothing. His eyes took me in, still unafraid. "May I have my wallet?" "Yea, what about my reward?" I sneered. "It begins when you give me my wallet." For some reason I reached into my pocket, handed the thing to him. "Thank you." He said, then he handed me a card. It was in a little plastic folder. "You must keep this." "Why?" "It is your reward, you must have it with you to collect." I stuck the card and folder into my shirt pocket, started to walk away. I turned back to say something, the old man was gone. "Fast little son of a bitch." I thought, then I headed for the corner store to get a bottle. I was opening the door when a motion caught my eye. I looked down, a $100 bill was flipping down the street in the light breeze. I grabbed it, it was real! I went in, bought a bottle, headed for my room feeling pretty high. Hell, a hundred bucks! I hadn't had a hundred bucks in my hands at once for years. One thing about finding money just floating down the street, it makes a person tend to pay more attention for awhile. I hadn't gone 10 steps when I saw the lottery ticket, I picked it up, somehow already knowing. I scratched the ticket when I got to my room, it was $100,000.00! I sat there in shock. The next morning I actually ran all the way to the corner payphone, dialed the number on the card. "This number has been disconnected and there is no new number." the recording said. I dialed again to make sure, got the same mesage. I went down to the bus station, bought a ticket to lottery headquarters. They confirmed the numbers, I had already handed over the ticket when I remembered my warrents. Just fuck! I broke a sweat, I knew I had no less that a dozen outstanding. Stupid bastards kept releasing me on recog, ordering me to appear. Sure, like I would do that. Too late. I stood there nervous, each time the door opened I was sure it would be cops. But finally the clerk came back, handed me a check, I got the hell out of there. I had to open a bank account to cash the check, I just filled out the forms and they deposited the check, big smiles all around by everyone. I left the money in the bank, I knew better than to try and carry any money on the streets I lived on. Plus I had had enough of those streets anyway, I bought a newspaper, hunted the ads. I found an apartment in a nice section outside of the city, checked it out and rented it. It was amazing, it had a TV set and a big soft bed, appliances and a shower. I was living like a damned King! I bought a little red Mazda sports car, soon I was tooling around town in clean clothes, hair neatly cut, feeling pretty good. I even quit drinking wine, I bought some but I sipped some of it and lost interest, after a week or so I didn't even bother to buy any. It was more fun tooling around and getting looked at. I also bought some more lottery tickets, none of them were big wins but all of them were winners. All of them. I bought some more with the same results, but I got bored after a couple of days with all of the scratching, even though one was $1000 and one was $5000. I must have gone by the park bench where I first saw the old man a dozen times, he was never there. I called the phone number on my spiffy new cell phone, got the the same recording. After a few weeks I more or less forgot about that, everything I touched was fine. I had stopped drinking, and one day I realized I was horny. Sex had been gone from my life for years, living on the streets dirty, always broke. Stinking does not lend readily to any kind of sex life, the women who don't mind or care didn't interest me much. I thought of hiring a high class hooker, then decided to try out my new found luck. Heading down to a nearby fancy hotel bar, I walked in and sat down. I was sitting there trying to decide if I wanted a drink when I heard a voice. I turned around and there stood a vision, long flowing red hair, a green pullover top, slacks and green eyes that made my head swim. "You are cute!" she said, with a wicked grin. "I'm Patty." "Dan." I managed to stammer, completely at a loss to understand why she would even talk to me. It was that simple, that easy, I just loaded her into my little red Mazda, took her to my place. Just that easy. Later I delighted in touching and exploring her, the white of her breasts faded into a darker tan, covered with freckles. The wisp of red pubic hair hid nothing of her, she began to orgasm at my first touch and just continued on and on. Fantasy woman. The kind of woman a man can only dream of. I lay staring at the ceiling for a long time afterwards, wondering at the changes in my life. I didn't have any shortage of money at all, and I even thought of buying a lottery ticket, but I was afraid to since there was still all of those warrents out for me. Sure as hell if my name hit the papers the cops would beat feet to my house in minutes. Hell, the cops knew where I lived before but they ignored broken car windows and muggings for a few bucks. I knew that and lived that way for years. So I fiddled around with scratchoff's for pocket cash, plus I entered a drawing at a local grocery store and won groceries for a year, that was cool. I was always finding money in the streets, too. There was a promotion at a local car dealership, it was one of those pick a key out of a huge bin. Take the test drive, listen to the sales pitch, then pick a key. If it starts, you win the car. It started, I knew it would. Everyone looked at me funny, it was the first day of the promotion and I suspected there was probably supposed to be no keys that even fit in there. What the hell were they going to say, the radio station was there for their kickoff promotion. I just sold it back to them cheap, I didn't really want it very bad, I liked my red Mazda. One day Patty wanted to head to Reno for some fun, it was only a short drive from where we now lived together in San Francisco. We got one of the best rooms in the casino, it was larger than my apartment. I went into the bathroom, wisecracked in my best southern accent, "Golly Jee! They got a drinking fountain right next to the john!" That got a hilarious laugh from Patty, of course all my wisecracks made her laugh. We headed down to the casino floor, I sat down at a $1 slot machine, put in a $100 bill and hit the button. Up rolled three 7's, $5000.00. Patty was laughing, she sat down next to me and started playing as I waited for the attendent to bring me my winnings. I watched as she played over and over, nothing. The attendent arrived, asked me to play off the win. I did, they came right back up. Patty squealed, the attendent got a puzzled look. I then began to notice some very large men hanging around, all in suits. I wasn't stupid, I collected my winnings and had Patty play the next one off. It came up nothing of course. The staff seemed satisfied and left, I just sat and watched Patty play. Her machine was a 10 times pay, she went through $500 and only hit a few tiny pays. As she put another bill in the machine, I reached over and touched the button, all three 10's came up, as I knew they would. I sat quietly as Patty filled out the forms and collected, knowing we were once again being watched. I knew better than to play any more slots, besides, winning every time gets old fast. So I found a Blackjack table, getting up after the 3rd 21 in a row. I walked over to a craps table, watched awhile, and placed some spotty bets. I won all of them. I kept passing the dice, knowing what would happen. Finally I took the dice, threw a seven, then another. It didn't take long, everyone was riding me and more big guys were hovering around. Finally one reached out and grabbed my hand, trapping the dice. He took them and handed me another pair. I threw a seven, picked up my winnings and walked away to complaints from the crowd that was now too big for comfort. I fiddled around with a Roulette table, riding three runs to the table limit, then I dropped a hundred on 0/00 and hit that before getting out of there. I was now being followed, so I went and found Patty who was estatic, she had hit a $360.00 jackpot. I didn't play any more after that, we caught a show and made love in the room. We were getting ready to leave, a concierge came up and told us our room was paid for. I smiled and nodded thanks at that one, walked over to the megabucks machine. It read "$29,000.000.00" on the big screen above the machine. I put in a bill, pushed the button, all three icons appeared. Bells went off, people were screaming, all hell broke loose. I was just bored, this wasn't fun. They told me as I got my first check that I couldn't play at their casino anymore, I understood why. I also didn't mind, I didn't need to. We drove back to San Francisco, settled in. I didn't gamble, in fact, I didn't do much of anything. I couldn't get the old man out of my head. Several times I drove by the park bench, he was never there. Then one day on impulse, I called the phone number. He picked up on the first ring. "Do you still have the card?" "Yes." "Did you get your reward?" "Yes." "Why did you call?" "I want to know why all this is happening. I want to share with you." I was thinking that might sweeten the pot and he would explain just what the fuck had happened. "If you wish. I will be there." He hung up. I went to the bank, filled a briefcase with cash, all I could think to do. For some reason I dropped the plastic folder with the business card inside. I drove by the park that evening, the old man sat on the bench. I parked the Mazda, got the briefcase and walked back towards the bench. He was gone. I looked up and down the street, nothing. "Whatcha got there, bud?" I heard a voice, turned. Two men stood there, just stepping out of the bushes. Exactly the same as I had done so many times before. "Nothing, I was looking for the old man." "Ain't no old man, give me that." the voice was threatening. I gripped the briefcase firmly as they grabbed at it, remembering the card I had stuffed inside the cae. Then I felt a tug at my side. Looking down, I saw the flash of a blade, then the blood, fell. Hands tugged at my clothes, the world went black. I woke up to bright lights, it took me a moment for my eyes to adjust. Two police officers stood looking at me. "You have warrents, you are under arrest." I was moved to a jail cell after my wounds healed. I called Patty several times, no answer. I had checked over and over for my plastic folder with the card, hoping, but it was gone. I called the bank to get some money for a lawyer, my accounts were closed. I called the number, knowing it from memory. "This number has been disconnected and there is no new number." Run of Luck Ch. 02 I stared out between the bars, I think I had the best jail cell in the whole damn place because I could see a portion of the river over the nearby buildings. No point in trying to sleep, my piece of shit cellmate was snoring so loud there was no chance of that. I shook him just once to try and get him to stop, he got up and slapped me off the wall, so now I just kept quiet and took it. I just couldn't get that damn phone recording out of my head, "disconnected and no new number". It played in my head, over and over. It was about a week or so later when they came and got me, dragged me before the judge. He knew me from other cases, that wasn't helpful. Then a long drone listing the charges, there was a bunch of them. The fat whiney little fucker they called a public defender pled me guilty, hell, there wasn't any other choice anyway. "Five hundred dollars or 30 days in jail." the judge announced, knowing my answer. I sure as hell didn't have the $500 anymore. So back to the tank, this was better. Just a bunch of cubicles, about 20 of us all living in one room. Eat, sleep, outside for an hour, back to eating and sleeping. Those days go by very slowly, my sentence wasn't long enough to get perks like the weight room or TV. One day they came for me and more or less booted me out the door, that was about it. No money, no job, no hopes. Back to the streets. I wasn't any more than around the corner and out of sight when I spotted a package in the back seat of a parked car. Nobody around, I found a rock and popped the window, grabbed it. Just some clothes and a book, one pair of socks that looked like they would fit. I was on my way. By the time I was back to the old neighborhood I had gathered up a few things to peddle. I got enough to cover a few days rent at the old boarding house I lived at before. The fat fucker was still there, he looked up at me and laughed, I just handed him the dab of cash, went and got a jug of wine. Guess I was home again. I missed my little red Mazda, no idea where it went since I never transferred the title because of my warrents. If I had known that it was only 30 days, I would have served it and got it over with, I had expected a few years. Guess the jails were full. Full circle, back to normal. The piles and piles of cash, the streak of luck, all gone. At first it had been great, I won everything, found money everywhere. It had all come to a head on the gambling trip, one push of any button was the jackpot. No magic, no fun. I couldn't even play, everything was a winner. Bored out of my mind was the word. I never was particularly religious but I figured that old man was Satan or some kind of fucking devil, because the reward he had given me was no reward at all. All I had wanted was his fucking $11.00, the "reward" was shoved at me, some kind of punishment. I did look for him, every time I went by the park I looked, he was never there. I was back to my old life, jacking cars, mugging a stupid asshole here and there, get enough for a bottle and pay the rent. Food where I could find it. I got tagged a couple of times with my arm in some asshole's car, the fucking street cops are mean as hell. They would pop me on the legs and back as a warning with their clubs. Then off to jail, released with an order to appear, same old shit. Sometimes I missed the apartment with it's TV and bed and the shower but that all faded into some kind of dream. I missed Patty, the hot little redhead, too. I knew she had cleaned out my money after I was stabbed, then arrested. Guess I couldn't blame her for that, I would have done the same. One day I got back to the boarding house, the fat fucker called out that I had mail. Mail? Why the hell would I get mail? I picked up the pink slip of paper, it had forwards all over it, a postal pickup notice for a certified letter. Who the hell would send me a certified letter? Probably the court, I thought, I ignored it, threw it in a drawer. I got another one a couple of days later. Just fuck! Curiousity killed the Cat, they say. I couldn't stand it, walked over to the post office, just a mile or so and handed them the slip. I signed, they handed me the letter. I looked at it and knew. It was from the bonding company, that big win on the megabucks slot machine. They don't give the winner all the money, it is an annuity spread out over 25 years. I had assumed that was all gone, that Patty had somehow ended up with it all. Of course she couldn't, it was in my name. Well, 29 million bucks spread out over 25 years, then after taxes and I was looking at a check for 580 big ones! I stood there and laughed so hard I started to choke, damn near vomited. I managed to get my breath, walked down the street to the bank and opened an account. Just like before. Big smiles all around. Got me an apartment, different one but just as nice. I hunted around for a red Mazda, finally spotted a new RX8, that worked for me. I was cleaned up and upright and rolling again. I even went down to the court and turned myself in, just three little warrents with some fines, I paid the fines and walked out the door free as a bird! Fucking government, all they care about is getting some money anyway. I even went and saw an accountant, filed taxes. Of course they wanted another 20 grand or so, I just wrote them a fucking check. Then I went to Reno, played some slot machines. I stuffed in hundred dollar bills and watched as a cherry came up once in a while, once I even hit some bars for $100.00. Got a massage in my room from this cute bubbly little massuese, gave her an extra hundred and she whacked me off nicely. I had been told I couldn't play in that club but it had been over a year, it took them awhile to get onto who I was. But by then I had been losing pretty heavily. A couple of big guys in suits came by and watched me for awhile, made me a little nervous. Then one of them told me to go ahead and play, and they left me alone. One funny thing I noticed was a couple of women tried to strike up conversations, that was odd and didn't happen to me much. Then as I was going up one of the escalators I looked up and spotted my smiling face in a big photo, now I knew why. I was holding that big cardboard check in the picture. The next time that happened I let things develop, ended up in my room with this cute little brunette, I screwed her 3 times then took her to dinner. Yea, I know, that's backwards, dinner is supposed to come first. Hell, you do it your way, I do it mine. Then I wandered off, didn't give a shit about her anyway, just something to do. The next day I drove home. I was coming down the street, for some reason I turned and drove by the park. The old man was sitting on the bench. Every instinct in my body told me to drive right on by, I parked the Mazda, got out and walked back. He looked up as I approached, I sat down on the other end of the bench. "I knew you would come." "Yea? Well, I need to ask a question." "Of course." "What was that? That luck shit?" "You made the choice." "I did? How..." "You took my wallet." "Yea, but I gave it back." "You got your reward." "Yea...but..." "You made the choice, now it is your turn." "My turn?" I suddenly felt lightheaded, the world was like a fog. My head cleared, he was walking away. No, he was... He turned and looked at me, I realized I was looking at.....myself. "What the fu...?" "It is your turn." He laughed, got into the Mazda and drove off as I sat there in shock. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the tattered old wallet. I looked inside, $11.00 and a card. I read the card. "If found, call me. The reward is anything you wish." Then the familiar phone number. I was still staring at the card when I heard the voice. "Whatcha got there bud? Give me that." He jerked me to my feet, patted me down, I didn't resist, just looked at him. I felt no fear, there was no need. He took my wallet and ran. I smiled, knowing he would call. Then it would be his turn. I smiled inside, everything would be all right. I had only to wait. Then I looked down. The card was laying on the ground at my feet.