Lucky - Alex Antiuk

The first time I met Lucky he was lying in the middle of the road, holding up traffic and yelling, “My leg! My leg!”

He was wearing scuffed, white sneakers, blue jeans, and a t-shirt with a few holes in it.

Lucky’s face was slightly dirty, young enough that he didn’t have to start shaving yet, his dimples evident on his smooth face. They were in full effect as he grimaced, standing in front of the stopped car.

“Are you ok?” I heard the driver say. I was standing on the sidewalk, watching the driver twitch slightly as he jumped out of his car. I didn’t see exactly when the driver ran into Lucky, I’d turned the moment I heard the driver screech on his breaks and Lucky let out that horrible yelp.

Without responding Lucky rolled on the floor. He looked like a rolling pin, but with shampoo and conditioned, flowing brown hair. He was a particularly pretty man, who looked anywhere from sixteen to forty years old.

“You came out of nowhere!” The driver continued. He began to pace slightly back and forth. He was an older man, with hairy arms and a slightly frazzled haircut. He looked like he reeked of cigarettes and diet soda.

“Please… Call an ambulance… You ran over my leg! Ow-w-w-w-w!” Lucky said back to him.

The man continued to pace. He didn’t even attempt to reach into his pocket and pull out his cell phone.

“Let me help you up. Can we just talk?” The man asked. He looked at Lucky, and Lucky said, “Fine…”

The man placed his greasy hand out and Lucky grabbed it. He lifted Lucky up and Lucky began to hobble. They walked over to the sidewalk where I was standing anxiously with my dog, and I heard the man mumble. He was speaking in an almost whisper, and I noticed Lucky’s face turned from dismay to glee while he whispered something back to the man. The man then followed by pulling out his wallet and handing Lucky a few bills, before the two shook hands and the man got back into his car and drove off.

I was still staring at Lucky when I noticed he wasn’t hobbling in the slightest. He was chuckling as he counted the bills. He licked his index finger and flipped through them. There weren't very many but with each passing bill, his smile grew.

“Are you ok?” I asked, too shaken by it all to just be a complete bystander.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Lucky said.

“You… You just got hit by a car?”

Lucky smiled. He let out a little laugh, before he placed the bills in his pocket and said, “You are damn right. It’s my second accident of the day!” Lucky was giggling and bouncing up and down in his tennis shoes.

“Second?” I screamed back at him.

“Yep… And I’m gunning for at least three today. I’ve got rent to pay this week and if I don’t make it, my landlord will smack a big notice on my door and change the locks. He’s a real crook.”

Lucky laughed and walked over to pet my dog. He was rubbing its ears and talking to it in a puppy voice.

“What’s his name?” 

“Tony…”

“Tony. It suits him…” Lucky said, before he turned up towards me and said, “And… What’s your name, ma’am? My name’s Lucky and it’s to meet you.”

I looked at him, still in a state of shock and confusion, “Joanna…”

“What a lovely name for a lovely lady with a lovely dog on a lovely day!” Lucky was laughing like a maniac. I was completely overwhelmed by what had happened that when a moment later Lucky flung himself into oncoming traffic, I didn’t say a word.

“Ow-w-w-w-w-w! Call an ambulance!”

Lucky began to roll around on the ground once again and I didn’t know what to do. He had dived dramatically onto the hood of the surprisingly slow-moving car and flopped around like he’d been hit by a rush-hour train.

I just stared in too heavy a state of shock to process it all. Lucky was smiling like a maniac on the concrete.

He was rolling and rolling like a bowling ball. And before I even had the chance to think if I should help him, I saw him stop for a moment and give me a big wink. Before he returned to yelling and moaning when the driver got out of his car.

 

Written by Alex Antiuk