Friday the 13th – The Champ’s Cat – March 13, 2015

 welter weight champion
callused and cusséd
scripturient poet
when not in the ring
had an iconic good luck charm
a grisly old poster
from a now defunct
insurance co.

into his dressing room
he went that Friday morn
and grew hoarse
with a dark anguished moan …
his poster’d been stolen
or so he thought
there on the wall was just a white spot
where it had once hung
not so long ago.

he went into a panic
he let out a shout
and from his heart’s serrated wound –
his voice seemed to bleed out:
“where’s my cat gone!”
he nearly wept as he pleaded
“I can’t fight tonight
unless it comes home!”

Mary Magee,
ran through the door
with a rectangular package
under her arm
tsk tsking the champion
in pretty bright tones:
“you silly big oaf,
what are you ever about?
no one’s stolen your cat
it’s a framed him I’ve done!”

now  it’s all urban history
about the champ’s fateful Friday,
he won that year’s title,
was successfully published
and became happily married
all that same day …
May 13th, 1938.

© G.s.k. ‘15

Chris from The Muscleheaded Blog loaned me this lovely poster .. which I gave to the champ, framed  😉

Also linked to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie

1. Welter (to roll, toss, wallow, writhe)
2. Callus
3. Plead
4. Bottle
5. Scripturient (desire to write)
6. Hoarse
7. Anguish
8. Iconic
9. Grisly
10. Panic
11. Urban
12. Serrate

At the Aksahic Library – Friday the 13th!

Sekhmet sat out on the lawn basking in Ra’s warm rays when the news came by way of Hermes.

“Have you heard?  Over a fourth of the internet users are blacked-out on the Italic peninsula!” he said breathlessly, “And of course we know who’s to blame!”

“Do tell … ” meowed Sekhmet a little bored. “Serves them right! These humans are always trying to imitate the Gods with their technology.”

“Ah, but you should know, your protegé was among the many who are isolated!” he said strolling off.

“What!!!” she jumped up indignant! “This will not do at all. I’m really so tired of Loki’s tricks!  Of course this is a personal affront to Me, Sekhmet!”

Bastet came down to the lawn about then with a piece of parchment in her paws.

“I’ve just gotten word from Georgia.  She won’t be able to post at all today.  Seems her internet is down too.”

“So I’ve heard and of course Loki is to blame!” Sekhmet snarled.

“Well, I’m working on it with the crisis group and maybe this time it’s not Loki.  You see today is Friday the 13th … ”

“And what does the date have to do with the problem?”

“Well, humans actually have a great hidden mental capacity.  Some call it the power of belief. It’s a low electrical charge that runs and connects people in a common cause or belief.  But it’s also an energy that makes things happen if enough people believe it will.”

“Really.”

“Oh yes,  Athena gave a lecture on the subject just the other day.  She says they are capable of creating great good works just by believing something ‘en masse’ … but also great disasters.  Seems that there are millions of people who believe that Friday the 13th is the harbinger of disaster, especially in Italy with its ancient roots that go back more than just a couple of millennium.  We’re working on it.”

“So when will the problem be resolved?” asked Sekhmet “We’ve so much work to do getting that book of children’s stories together …”

“We?  I haven’t seen you move a paw to do anything!”

“Pshaw!  I am the mover … the inspirer … it is I, Sekhmet the reason that she writes, no?”

“NO!” said Bastet as she left a surprised Sekhmet with her jaw opened.

“I wonder what’s gotten into that kitten!”

Just a Note – Internet Blackout in Italy- Friday, June 13, 2014

Friday the 13th in Italy this month was unlucky for about 28% of the internet users in Italy, including myself at around 11:00 this morning.

Mmy first hint was when suddenly Skype went off line – but that happens pretty often here anyway.  I changed computers in the mean time using my netbook computer where I could sit in a cooler area. When I discovered my netbook refused to connect, I first thought it was a problem with the netbook.  After about 20 minutes of messing around, I tried to connect with my principle computer, but discovered it too wouldn’t connet.

My first thought was that my wifi router had given up the ghost!  But the computers communicated through the home network.  At this point I tried to call my server…first no answer, then the line went busy.  Finally at 4:30 I was able to reach the server and was informed that they were off-line nation wide.

About 15 minutes ago I again tried to connect the internet…and voila!

So … truth is stranger than fiction, at least for Wind-Inforstrada, my server … Friday the 13th is unlucky for them and their clients!  By the way there is no news as to what actually happened … maybe tomorrow, or then again maybe not.  Buona Notte from Italy!  Bastet

The Friday13th Turn Around – Fairy Tale

Now, Jack and Jill
Went with Hansel and Gretel
For a walk in the misty Black Forest …
The moon was shining very bright
And the sheep were in their byre.

In faery land the happy band
Of hopeful heroes and evil villans,
Looked on their calendars and shouted:
“Today is the turn around day! Hooray!”
But no one knew where the children were
Which was an unhappy turn for a certain witch…

The wicked witch (as some folks said)
Had after pondering, a sage idea:
“I’ll see the queen with the magic mirror
To tell me where they’ve went!”
So she traipsed off to the queen’s high loft
To pose the mighty question …
For it was only right, that the children might,
Play dark evil for at least one night!

Now if truth be told, as we all know,
The witch ends up in her own baking fire …
She’d contemplated that merry trick
To play on Hansel and Gretel.
The children knew what her plans would be,
They knew quite well when that day began,
So off they’d gone on their merry lark
With Jill and her brother Jack.

The moon was full and bright that night
And the mirror showed watery ripples
But he’d been affected by the magic of the day …
“The ones you seek are not far from here
They’re out walking near the Zuiderzee!”
The witch cackled in great glee
She would soon have them in her fire …
But on this day, the mirror could be a fanciful great liar!

The clock tick-tocked and midnight grew near
As the children walked in the misty Black Forest
The witching hour of midnight would clear
The turn around mystic power …
The wicked witch (as some folks said)
Flew quickly to the Zuider Zee
She could not find them and began to think
That she’d somehow been tricked again!

The clocks struck twelve and the world turned right
The children were saved from the fire that night!
(Though Jack didn’t fall and break his crown,
As he didn’t go get pails of water!
Jill fell down tripping on a root and broke her crown instead)
So until the next 13th Friday of the year
The world will be as it’s alway been …
But I wonder now about  some other tales …
Imagine if Cinderella were the evil step sister
and Snow White an ugly hag.

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Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Fairy Tale Prompt

Tale Weaver’s Prompt – May 24, 2014

Jane heard the alarm clock go off and jumped out of bed.  The morning was beautiful full of bright sunshine.  After her morning ablutions she began dressing then her eye fell on the calendar.  She stopped dead in her tracks, took in a deep breath and sat down.’Oh my lands! Friday the thirteenth!’ she thought.

It seemed to her that a dark cloud had hidden the brilliant sun.  She finished dressing.  That morning she had decided to go to visit a writer she’d met at an exhibition the week before, but now she hesitated.  She’d wanted to write an article about him.

She went downstairs and started breakfast.  Strangely enough, the coffee tasted better than usual…and for once she her toaster worked didn’t burn the bread to a black crisp.  She went out the door and got into her car and drove the 3 kilometers to the town center and found a parking spot without any problems…she hadn’t had to search at all.

She did her shopping and then walked to the café where she had her appointment with the writer.  He was sitting in a booth near the entrance and looked a little haggard.

“Hello Jane.  How are you this morning?” he asked.

“Actually better than I thought I’d be…since it’s Friday the 13th!”

“I do so know what you mean.  I’m just waiting for the axe to fall!”

“So far, nothing but good has happened to me today.  Have you any adventures to tell me about Friday the 13th?”

“The last one, my editor sent word that the printers had botched the lay-out of my last book.  And then I had an accident with the car.  Nothing more than a cracked fender but still my heart was in my throat.  I was thinking of not going out today.  But the last time I tried that out, my computer fried!”

“And did all this start out right away?”

“Yeah.  As soon as I woke up I got the phone call from my editor.  This morning I had to go back home because as soon as I walked out the door a bird bombed me!”

They talked for another hour, fortunately not only about bad luck and omens.  Seems the the writer was pretty superstitious. However, she had enough material to write a great article.

Jane got through the day without any mishaps and that go her to thinking;  ‘why should Friday the 13th be so omenous?’ and decided to look it up in Wikipedia.

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the 19th century.The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Sutherland Edwards‘ 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on a Friday 13th.

He [Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday 13th of November he passed away.

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that 13 is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

She started her article feeling much better.  The rest of the day had passed without a hitch, well almost, when she’d gotten to her car there was a ticket on the wind screen, she’d forgotten to put out her parking disc!

---

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Tale Weaver’s Prompt

 

 

 

Wednesday Short Story Prompt #20 – As Luck Would Have It

At We Drink Because We’re Poets, Lilith Colbert has given us this prompt:

“This week, you must write a tale where the good guy doesn’t win, where his (or her) streak of luck runs dry as the Mojave, either to tragic or comedic ends.”

The last time I did this, a general outcry rocked my blog.!  At least now I can have the good guy lose and no one will protest…right?

@)—>—>—

© Georgia S. Koch

Friday the 13th

“There’s no way I’m going to the market today, it’s Friday the 13th!” Mariel wailed once again.

“Oh come on you’re kidding me, you’re being stupid!  Friday the 13th is just like any other Friday!” Giacomo replied exasperated.

They’d been arguing back and forth since Giacomo had proposed to go to the Friday market in the village where they were vacationing.  He wanted to buy some gifts to take home to his sister’s kids, besides he loved open air markets.

“Well I’m not stopping you, I’m just not going!”

“Have it your way!” he said as he picked up his car keys and went out the door.

He drove down the narrow road that would take him to the parking area near where the market was being held, at that moment a guy on a bike came down the road right at him in the opposite direction, he swerved without thinking to avoid him and broke his left-wing mirror.  “Shit! Damned cyclists!” he muttered knowing that that would cost him a pretty penny when he turned in the rental car. The cyclist just made a rude gesture with his hand and kept on pumping.

He parked and began to walk the 300 meters to the market.  The walk-way was already filled with people happily jostling their way along to the town center.  It was a bright sunny day, with very few clouds.  He began to weave his way through the stalls, but didn’t see anything that he though his nieces or nephew would enjoy.  Suddenly, it began to rain.  Everyone went for shelter under a shop’s awning, Giacomo with them.

“I can’t believe it, it’s sunny and raining and I feel like a bloody sardine.” he thought to himself wondering when the rain would stop.

The rain finally did stop about ten minutes later.  Giacomo went into a caffè and ordered a cappuccino and brioche.  He picked up the paper that the caffè kept on hand for their customers and began to read the headlines.  As the waitress arrived with his order, she tripped pouring the coffee down his arm and leg.

“Shit!” he exclaimed as the coffee burnt him.

“I’m so sorry sir!  She went to grab some paper towels from behind the counter and helped him clean up the worst of the damage done to his shirt and shorts.  He then went into the bathroom to finish cleaning himself properly.

“I really am sorry sir, this one’s on us,”  She said as she served him another cappuccino with his brioche, “including the brioche.”

Giacomo was beginning to think there was something in the Friday the 13th myth, but then again, he did get a free cappuccino and brioche, he thought.  Then thought again as he looked at his reddened skin.  He finished his snack and went back out into the street, thinking maybe he’d try his luck again at some stalls further up the road.

He finally found some lovely silk scarves that he thought would make a nice gift for his eldest niece.  As he began to search his pockets to pay for the gift, he discovered that he no longer had his wallet.  He thought it had probably been stolen either along the crowded sidewalk or when he was under the awning when it had rained.

He’d no alternative but to return to the car and then the hotel without buying anything.  He was obviously in a bad mood by now.  Without realizing it, he’d been going at least 20 miles an hour over the speed limit.

The carabinieri pulled Giacomo over, but as he didn’t have his driver’s license with him, he not only got a ticket for speeding but also for driving without a license as well as driving with a broken wing mirror.  He had to wait as the police checked the car registration with the rental agency to ascertain that he hadn’t stolen the vehicle.  They also invited him to come to the police station to report the theft of his wallet, saying he should have done that in the first place instead of trying to drive a car illegally.  At the police station and reported the theft of his wallet as well as his driver’s license and credit cards.  This took him about an hour.

He finally got back to his hotel, frazzled by the terrible morning he’d passed.  Walking up the stairs he tripped as he reached his landing hurting is ankle.  So, he limped to his room and went in.  Mariel was sitting at the desk, using her laptop.

“Oh, hi dear.  I was just reading up on Friday the 13th, you know you were so right!  It’s just a silly superstition.  Let’s go swimming this afternoon after lunch.  Oh by the way, you forgot your wallet when you went out this morning.”

“I’m not moving from this room again today!” he said as he dropped himself on the bed, “Superstition or not, it’s Friday the 13th and that means bad luck to me!”  Then he began to tell her of his morning.