Your Life’s Fortune

(Author’s Note: For those who are used to seeing only poetry here, I do an occasional “flash fiction” piece. That’s what this is…)

YOUR LIFE’S FORTUNE

Exhausted, Karen couldn’t cope with the thought of cooking anything after the long day at work. She could barely muster up the energy to make her way through the crowded sidewalk leading to her train stop. She could hear the “L” approaching and hurried the final steps, not wanting to miss the last train.

Once on board, Karen exhaled. And prayed. The hard work she’s put into sealing the deal on this new client was finally coming to fruition. The terms were settled. The contracts were prepared. She would meet with her boss and the client tomorrow for final signatures. And her promotion should come soon after! Nothing was promised—but it was what she had been working toward.

Glancing out the window at the passing businesses, Karen felt the rumble of hunger in her stomach. A quick check of her watch told her she just might make it to her stop in time to pick up something to eat from her favorite Chinese carryout restaurant on the corner of her block.

Rushing off the train with a renewed energy (and sights set on Moo Shu Pork), Karen made it just in time. With order in hand, she walked past the row of Brownstones. Finally home, she leaned against the counter and reached inside the bag, feeling for the familiar wrapper of the cookie which she always ate first.

Breaking the cookie in two, popping one half in her mouth, Karen pulled the fortune from the other half. One side taught her the Chinese word for “family”. Looking around her flat, she sighed at the emptiness that surrounded her. Slowly, she flipped the paper over to read, “All your hard work will soon be paid off.”

Thinking about her life’s fortune, she penned the following poem:

PRIORITIES
(a shadorma)

Fortunate,
I am, in some things.
In others,
not so much.
I suppose that’s just the way
the cookie crumbles.

///

Written for Flashy Fiction Fridays