Charmed, I'm Sure

A speculative microfiction

Rupert Charm’s eyes widened as he patted his pants pocket: Where ever was his rabbit’s foot? Barely one o’clock and a mud-spattered, coffee-stained, and flabbergasted Rupert had been told to “take the afternoon.” Rupert didn’t know how to “take” an afternoon and frankly resented the suggestion. Nevertheless, he found himself a block from the office standing on the damp sidewalk carrying the crushing weight of an empty pocket.

He mulled over a few possible explanations:

• A pickpocket had swiped the rabbit’s foot by mistake.

• His second wife had taken the foot, knowing it had been a gift from his sweet, late Josephine.

• The foot was loosed from the pocket in the elevator, or in the bathroom, the cafeteria, somewhere.

The rabbit’s foot couldn’t be nowhere; it must be somewhere. But where?

Behind him, someone screamed. Rupert turned to glare at the screamer—Honestly, what a racket!—and stared into the bright sky, slack-jawed, instead. For there, hurtling toward the street in a plume of smoke was a wing, from a plane, or a rocket, or something. In glorious catastrophe, it crashed into a building, which ignited like a firecracker in pops of shattered glass, and squeals of twisted metal, and showers of sound and light. The very same building from which Rupert had, in fact, “taken” the afternoon.

A moment later, there was a vibration in Rupert’s coat. He pulled out his phone, looked at the screen, answered: “Hello, love. No, thank goodness. I’d taken the afternoon. Computer issue. Right, love. Be home soon.” He smiled into the receiver. “Lucky, I guess.”

The call ended. Rupert dropped his hand, still clutching the phone, to his side. He looked down at his shoes, around the perimeter of the square of unblemished sidewalk on which he stood.

There, just beside him, was his rabbit’s foot.

*

Sharing is caring

If you liked this piece of speculative microfiction, consider leaving a comment, sharing with other readers, or both. And thank you for helping to spread the word.

♥ Fal