“It’ll work like a charm,” old man Geller said, smiling. “Just plug and play.”
Smiling, I took the small green-felt bag, the Ziploc baggy filled with weird trinkets, and a tiny vial of green ooze with glitter and herbs. Was that a gold tooth in there, too?
“How do you…?” I started to ask but was quickly interrupted by loud laughter followed by a fit of coughing. “Are you alright, sir?”
With milky white eyes glistening, old man Geller smiled and assured me the only thing I needed to do was to read the enclosed instructions he typed up on the ol’ computer and printed out for me.
I almost didn’t believe this guy knew anything about making charms, but at this point, I was desperate to get a new job or better yet, win the lottery! I just needed the big break to get on the right track.
“Start small, kid. Don’t expect to win the Big One right away unless you wanna lose your soul trying!” More raucous laughter from the old man, but it was hard to take him serious with prefabricated velvet bags made in China and printed instructions on how to correctly fill this charm bag for money working.
Suddenly he stopped smiling and looking at me through milky white eyes, “I mean it Kid. Don’t go in asking for the moon and be surprised when an asteroid lands on your house while you’re still in it.”
“You gotta do the work. Nothing is free but wishing on the stars. You still gotta get up in the morning and get your butt to work. All this mojo hand gonna do is help guide your subconscious. You have to believe but even more important than that, you have to believe in yourself.”
Looking down towards his bony knees, the old man cleared his throat before saying quietly, “How do you think I got these eyes? I wanted to see beyond the veil and into the souls and hearts of men so I could help them. I was saucing it up at O’Malley’s and was feeling pretty good. No pain a’tall, you understand?
“I didn’t see the lumber falling off the truck in front of me in time to avoid a stack of 2 x 4s crashing through my windshield …”
I think I got the picture. “Be careful what you wish for.”
With that, I got up and handed the old man a $20 and left with the goods.
“I sure could use that jackpot though,” I mumbled to myself.
Word prompt with 30-minute timer: Charm
Notes: I liked where this was going. At the 30-minute gong, I stopped writing but had to wonder what the kid was going to do with his mojo hand. What do you think happens next?
Blue Sky Thunder 