Lily had the ability to see other people’s bad luck coming.
When her coworker, Glenda, was about to knock her favorite coffee mug off the desk with her elbow, Lily heard the echo of breaking crockery in the near future and moved the mug just in time.
The following week the smokey smell of gears burning tickled her nose just before the intern fed far too many sheets of paper into the copier at once. Lily put a hand on his arm, stopping him from jamming the papers into the chute. “Oh, no, hon. That’s far too much. Just send them through one at a time.”
But she was unable to see her own bad luck, until it was too late.
She didn’t see the extra step until she’d tripped over it.
She never noticed the pot about to boil over until the spaghetti came bubbling over the side along with the water.
And, she never saw the other car coming, not until it T-boned hers in the middle of the intersection.
The accident wasn't her fault, the other driver ran the stop sign. But Lily couldn’t help but think if her special talent worked for her, too, she might have been able to prevent it. Not for the first time, she wondered why it worked this way.
After her car accident Lily had to take the bus to work for a few days while her car was in the shop. While she was standing at the bus stop a man gently took her by the elbow and steered her a few feet backwards. Before she could comment, a car sped past right through a large pothole filled with water that she hadn’t noticed. The spray of dirty water landed right where she had been standing.
Lily swiveled around to look at the man who had saved her from going to work drenched in muddy water. He was reading a book, seemingly unaware. Lily’s left eyebrow arched knowingly, but she said nothing.
The next day, Lily observed the same man put out a hand, while still reading the book he was holding in his other hand, and pull a baby carriage back from the curb just before it rolled into the street.
The day after that, Lily noticed when, still reading his book, he reached over and steadied the arm of a man in a suit who was about to sneeze and spill coffee all down his front.
Lily got her car back that evening. The next morning, she drove by the bus stop on her way to the office. As she approached the bus shelter she slowed down and pulled over. The man with the book was the only one there.
She rolled her window down. “Honey, the bus is going to get a flat tire halfway to your destination. Get in, I’ll give you a ride.” She smiled knowingly.
The man lowered his book. He met her gaze with a grin of his own. “This must be my lucky day, then. Thank you,” he replied as he climbed into the passenger seat. “But make sure you avoid Elm Street, there’s about to be a sinkhole.”
Lily laughed out loud as she pulled away from the curb. “I think this might just be my lucky day, too.”
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