Sunday, January 20, 2008

A Lucky Day by Barbara Quinn

Today I turned into a different drive-up ATM than I normally use. The car ahead of me stopped short of the ATM machine and a man exited from the rear seat. I saw a bill fluttering on the ground near the machine, and I figured the fellow was going to fetch it. Someone must have dropped it. Ah, if only I had been a few seconds earlier, I'd have scored the fluttering bill. Lucky guy. But the man was talking on his cell phone. He used the ATM and never noticed the money. He returned to the car, still on his phone, and climbed in the back seat. The car and all its oblivious occupants drove away.

I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I stopped at the ATM, opened the door, leaned over and grabbed the bill. A twenty! It was like winning the lottery. Other than one time when I found a ten dollar bill in a cab in NYC, money hasn’t ever appeared without hard work.
(You should know I have a mail subscription to the New York State lottery, which I have only once won $20 from in about twelve years. But, hey, you really do never know.)

I was already in a good mood. My workout at the gym had gone well. Nothing was aching and I shared a cup of green tea afterward with a good friend. And then I found that twenty. I knew that I was smiling.

We never know what’s waiting for us, including a twenty dollar bill on the ground. Here’s to random good luck. May it be in your favor a few times in your life.

PS My grateful gas tank immediately sucked up the twenty.

7 comments:

Kathryn Magendie said...

Dear Barbara,

I regret to inform you--that twenty was mine. Please mail it to:

555 My Street
Maggie Valley, NC

Thanks!

kathryn

(laughing---glad your morning was so fortuitous!)

Barbara Quinn said...

Since you owe me twenty for the jar of pickled frog tongues that keep rearranging themselves into a pattern you swear looks like your Auntie Gem, I guess we're even. I'll let ebay know you paid up.

Barb

Kathryn Magendie said...

LAUGHING!!!!

Unknown said...

Funny how a little thing like that can say, this is gonna be a good day.

Angie Ledbetter said...

B: A nice little pat on the head for listening to your gut and visiting the different ATM that day? I do strange things like that for no obvious reason sometimes. Giving an ear to your intuition often gets you neat surprises.

Anonymous said...

Once I found a twenty dollar bill in a store. When I read about your lucky find, I went right back to that day in vivid color. I was about 12 or 13 and tried to turn it into the clerk. He said just keep it--you found it. I am grateful for that memory and for that clerk's lesson.... I could see you sitting in your car waiting to see what you thought would happen and didn't happen. It was your turn.

Barbara Quinn said...

Hey, Janet, Thanks for reading and commenting.Well, maybe it'll be both our turns to hit the lottery one of these days!

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