Paul wondered if he would ever have any good luck at all in his life as he walked into work wondering if he was going to get laid off with the other workers. He read last night that the company was preparing to lay off most of his shift since the company was not selling enough cars to keep the line going. More people wanted electric in the front office and the plant was suffering.

 

Thinking about going to college never occurred to him and getting a job out of high school worked out for him. Learning skills on the job and working hard had always paid off. Now that his job was gone, it was like those who talked down to him for not going to college won. At twenty-six, he wondered if he was too old to go to college and then dismissed it as he couldn't for the life of him think of something he wanted to study. The job out of high school at the factory gave him what he wanted for a living and got him his own house, but now it all seemed to be collapsing. Then he thought about how his string of bad luck was going.

 

Not one to dwell on setbacks, he still felt that his bad luck was uncanny for the last two years. His girlfriend left him a month ago, and his car broke down on the road only after getting it fixed. The tires on his car and lawnmower all went flat as it was like every loose nail would find his tire. When a deadline at work happened, the tools he needed to complete it would always break or be lost. Going out to eat would always result in messed up orders or an overcharged bill. It was like the world hated him and the frustration inside of him was building.

 

Everyone wins sometimes in their life and Paul felt and sooner or later he would win. Playing lotto, buying scratch off tickets and even online poker all should have sometimes where you win. As a birthday gift, his mother bought him over a hundred dollars in scratch off lotto tickets and not a single one was a winner. Not a single one even paid for itself, and all one hundred of them were losers.

 

It was like a curse was being put on him and Paul wondered why his luck was so bad. His ex-girlfriend left because she didn't want kids and moved away for her job. There was no hatred and the few people that hated him were all from high school. Thinking of why his luck was so bad finally hit a breaking point when he got the first layoff notice of the day.

 

The lost feeling was set in as he wondered how much of his savings would be lost paying his bills before he found a job. It was a joke when his friend said he should pray or cast a spell to help his luck. Religion was not an important aspect of his life, and he figured it was just a figure of speech to pray or cast a spell.

 

A day later his friend came by to hangout and he brought a book with him. It was a simple reference book, but he insisted that there was at least something he could do. Jake was always superstitious, and Paul wanted to appease him, so he read the book about gods and how there was a god of luck.

 

"You know Tyche is the God of luck. You should pray to her. Just pray to her...if it doesn't help, then at least you will feel better. It's all in your mind and this will help," Jake insisted as they drank beers relaxing.

 

"Fine," Paul gave in and closed his eyes to pray.

 

"God of luck...please help me. I don't know...win at cards tomorrow," he asked and then opened his eyes.

 

"That was a half ass prayer. You need to at least know her name and put some faith into it.

 

"We shall see. If I win tomorrow, I will do it."

 

Chugging his beer he then joked back, "Deal. You have to get it out of your mind, and this will do it. You win tomorrow and I want you to put faith into this so you can at least get your mind right.

 

It was weird coming from someone who was religious and went to church to be talking about gods, but he knew he was kind of right that he was dwelling on it.

 

***

 

The card game was just a friendly game once a month between friends. It was small stakes, friendly wagers and beer mostly. If you won big, it was only fifty dollars at most and was rare. Paul lost consistently about twenty dollars each time they played, and a good night was only ten dollars. It was still fun because it was with friends and there was free beer.

 

It was like the cards hated him and each hand he thought he would win came up short. It was hand after hand that he would be high and yet betting into a better hand. They were all joking about his bad luck, and he knew he was cursed.

 

It was getting on his nerves that nothing was working out and then after a piss break, he hoped that maybe one time he would have faith something would work. He tossed a quarter into the pot. "Please...goddess of luck...help me. I want to win."

 

The need to win brewing deep in him, he felt like this was his last chance. All the bad things that happened seemed to merge into one big feeling and this win was the tipping point between good luck or being cursed.

 

When the cards were dealt, he saw that he had a good hand. "Please...give me luck and I will repay it in any way I can," he said in his head as he bet high hoping that this would be his time to win.

 

When the hand was over, his smile could not be bigger as it ended the night and for the first time, he was walking away with more money than he came with. It was like a weight was lifted off his chest and that he might just have a strong of good luck now.

 

The joy never left even as he was home ready to go to sleep. The sight on his friends' faces seeing his winning hand and all their previous jokes now gone was worth it. He wondered if it was the prayer or that it was finally his turn.

 

In the morning, he spent a few hours looking up the god of luck and found that different cultures had their own but were copied from just one. With the book Jake left with him and a quick search, he found various statues of her and then had this feeling it was her that he prayed to and not any other God. With a bit of research, he saw old pictures of people praying to statues and leaving offerings and figured that he could do the same with a small statue that would fit on a small table.

 

Some people carry trinkets on them that they pray with or think give them luck. Paul now felt that he should have one for Tyche. She was the Goddess of luck and holding a representation of her might be the thing that broke his bad luck. It was the only thing he could think of and felt like all other options were exhausted.

 

Finding items that represent Greek Gods was not something easy to come by but there was a statue place that sold statues of Greek gods. It was worth a try and maybe a small statue of her might do the trick. There was a small statue store on the side of the highway that sold bird baths and lawn ornaments. The idea that they sold smaller ones for the house came to him and it was worth a look.

 

Walking in, he saw all sorts of statues of various famous sculptures for people's lawns or gardens. The place was filled with new fresh stone statues of goddesses and random men and women in poses pouring water. The place was run by an old man and there was nobody there looking to buy making him think this place would be out of business soon.

 

Asking for a statue of Tyche, the man shook his head and said that the only one he had was not a bird bath and not new either. Taking him inside, past the new merchandise, the man undraped a brand-new statue that would fit on the lawn. The price was seven hundred dollars and Paul knew that it was too much for something that he didn't really care about.

 

"Sorry, that's too much and I want something smaller that can fit on a table or something indoor," Paul answered the guy when he asked if he was interested.

 

"I don't have a cheaper one," he said and Paul figured that would be the end of his idea of buying a statue.

 

"I got others that are smaller, but not of Tyche. You want to look at them?"

 

"Nah. I just needed some luck and hoped a small statue of her would help," Paul admitted as it was just a stupid idea he thought of.

 

"I got something. You can have it if you need luck. My father brought it back from Italy after the war. It's broken and old but if you need luck, you can have it."

 

He followed him to the back where the old man pulled off a cloth to show the small statue about three feet high. It looked like a broken ancient looking statue that would go against a wall as the back was flat. It had the basin like a birdbath but was much smaller making him think this was something else. The top part was broken and only part of her face was showing. The bottom of the statue looked like it was crumbling and the stonework needed to be cleaned as it was gray and not white like everything else.

 

"You really letting me have this for free?" Paul asked, thinking that it was strange for a man to be giving away something.

 

The old man replied calmly, "My father wouldn't part with it and my mother hated it. I never could see it and it has been in the back for years."

 

Loading it into his car, he could see the back of the statue was old and covered in dust. He wondered how old the statue was as the more he looked at it, the more it made him think he bought a really old piece, and it might be worth something after all. It had a basin like a birdbath, but it was much smaller like some church offering plate of some kind.

 

Thinking it was the offering a person would give to this god, he smiled and jokingly put all of his pocket change in the small basin thinking it was like an offering plate. Playing it off like he was praying, he smiled and spoke in a joking manner. "Goddess Tyche...thank you for your luck last night. Here is my offering to you."

 

For the first time in a long while, Paul could feel the burden of shit luck lifted as if the cloud of despair was gone. Relaxing on the couch, he pulled up his laptop looking for jobs going that his new good luck might help him. After applying for a few jobs, he watched a movie and passed out hoping that tomorrow would be a good day.