Lucky Misfortune

It's after eight in the morning, Kenzi jumps out of her sleep in a fright. Her face twitching, arms flailing like a robot malfunctioning.

"EEEggghhuu," she gasps.

“What time is it?” Was the first thought she had as she leapt out of bed, frantically searching for her phone. She overslept and she knows it. "Where are you, where are you, where are you?," Kenzi says as she continues her search under the bed.

Then, muscle memory happened, she pops up with a relieving smile. She's finally awake now. "It's in the bathroom. Duuuh Kenni," she jokingly mocks herself as she walks to the bathroom.

Kenzi flips the switch to the bathroom light, but nothing. Darkness. “Did the bulb go out?” she thought to herself.

Kenzi is unaware that this is the beginning of the worst/best day of her life.

She reaches into the bathroom to grab her phone from where it is charging. It's not dead, but it's less than half a battery. Good enough for her to get to work and charge it.

She heads into the kitchen to try the light switch in there, still nothing. It hits her. "Awww noooo. Please, please don't be off." Instinctively, she runs to turn the facets on. What was left of the water sputters out.

It’s all hitting her at once. She overslept by half an hour. Her water and electricity are cut off. She needs to get to work and can't brush her teeth or bathe. Her whole world is imploding. They’ve cut her hours at work and she has been behind on bills because of the obscene medical bill she has to pay from her ambulance ride to the hospital. She walks around the room pacing in place. She needs to come up with something and quickly. She can’t afford to lose her job.

Kenzi searches through her phone and clicks on a contact. "Hey! Do you mind if I come to stay there for a couple of days? My landlord is having them bomb the building, so we can't be here until the chemical is cleared out," she lies. "Thank you!" She makes an uncomfortable face as she says, "I have another not-so-small favor to ask...can I come now? I forgot they were doing it right now." After getting the answer she was hoping for, she grabs her duffle bag and packs what she can with the time she has. Before walking out the door, she turns around and takes everything in. With a quick prayer, she exits her apartment, immediately noticing “EVICTION NOTICE” written boldly in caps posted on her door. This can’t be happening. Her landlord from hell promised he would hold off for another month to give her an opportunity to catch up. He lied.

With the heaviness of this morning's load wearing on her, she heads to the train station wondering if she will have an apartment to come back to. She sits on the train heading to her friend’s house. She’s so lost in thought, not realizing the person she sat next to has the same duffle bag. The train makes a noise that takes Kenzi out of her thoughts. She comes to and realizes it’s her stop. She quickly jumps up and grabs the duffle bag. As she walks toward her friend’s apartment, she receives a text from her saying she stepped out for a moment but left her key under the doormat for Kenzi to use.

When she arrives, she finds the key where her friend said it would be. Kenzi opens the door and takes care to not make too much noise as she enters. She knows her friend’s roommate works overnight and will be home sleeping. When she gets to her friend’s room she sits on the bed knowing time is ticking and she needs to get to work. She makes another phone call, this time to her job, making up another lie, too ashamed to let her manager know her real predicament. It wasn’t pride, at least she didn’t think so. Part of her feels like she can still fix this without anyone finding out.

She hangs up the phone, grabs her duffle bag, and enters the bathroom. She places the bag on the toilet seat as she turns on the shower faucet, anxious to wash off this morning’s events. Kenzi unzips her duffle to take out her towel and work uniform. But instead, it’s a wad of money. Her eyes widened. “Where did this money come from?” “God?” What other explanation could it be? But where are her clothes? She flips the bag over and the rest of the money and a little black book fall out. Her clothes were nowhere to be found. She picks up the book, hoping to get an explanation. A note slips out of it and falls on the floor. Kenzi doesn’t notice. She flips through, but there are just scribbles on the pages. Maybe some notes or thoughts and a grocery list. No name or dedication identifying the owner. She starts to retrace her steps. “The train!” That’s it, that’s where it happened. She gasps as the blood leaves her face. She was so lost in thought that she accidentally grabbed the wrong bag.

Not only is she homeless, but now she’s a thief. It’s not like she did it on purpose, she would give it back if she knew who to give it back to. She doesn’t even know what the person looks like. She thinks about taking the bag to a police station, but should she? “I mean, who walks around with this kind of money?,” she thinks to herself. The only people she could think of are drug dealers and drug dealers aren’t going to report their money missing to the police. But what if it’s not? This is too much for her to handle and she still needs to go to work. Should she go to work? She’s not going to be able to think straight knowing she has all this money in her possession. And how much money is it? Should she count it? “No, no, it’s not yours and you’re not keeping it.” Her pep talk isn’t too convincing. So she did what she was already intending to do, she got in the shower. Hoping the water will give her some welcome relief. She steps out of the shower realizing that she still didn't have her work clothes or any clothes for that matter. All she has is her naked body, this little black book of nothingness, and a large lump sum of money she doesn’t know what to do with. Damn her morals at times like this! How many times has she wished she could just stumble on some money like this? And now that she has, she doesn’t like the feeling. She sits on the toilet and places her hands under her chin to think. From the corner of her eyes, she notices a note on the floor that seems to have been a page from the book. She picks it up and reads it:

Dear Sarah,

I’ve sat down to write this to you so many times but could not find the right words. I know “I’m sorry” will not bring your parents back but I am sorry for my mistake. I cannot take back my careless decision that night. I hope one day you can forgive me. I read that you were at your graduation party that night waiting for them to celebrate your accomplishment. I’m so sorry Sarah. I’m sorry. I hope this $20,000 can help with any college expense you may have. I’m sorry.

-R

Kenzie is speechless.