Cross your Fingers and Knock on Wood

Jim

Jim Frayne sat waiting at Union Station in Chicago. He glanced at his watch and realized that the train he was supposed to catch to New York City was already thirty minutes late and there was still no sign of it. An inquiry with a ticket agent told him that there would be at least a forty-five minute delay in their departure due to some track maintenance issues.

He hoped the number of people packed into the waiting area was no indication of how many people would be on the train. It was going to be a long trip. He’d left St. Paul, Minnesota this morning and had arrived in Chicago by early afternoon.

Now it was almost 10:00 in the evening. He was tired and really had been looking forward to sleeping for the first part of the trip. It always amazed him how tired he could get doing nothing but sit all day.

When the Bob-Whites had decided to get together for their thirteenth anniversary, he thought it would be fun to take the train instead of flying. Air fare had been expensive.

It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money, but that was in his trust funds. He had been given full access to it when he turned 25. He just chose not to use it. He wanted to prove to himself and others that he could make it on his own without the help of the money he inherited from his great-uncle or that had been given to him by his parents.

While the train trip would be much longer than the airplane ride, it would be shorter than driving his car since he wouldn’t have to stop driving to sleep. When you figured the cost of the hotel rooms into the mix it was considerably cheaper than driving his ten-yea-old Jeep Cherokee that didn’t get great gas mileage.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard someone berating the ticketing agent. “You have to get that train here soon,” the person said.

He looked over and saw a petite girl who didn’t look much older than twenty standing on her tip toes, trying to lean over the ticketing desk. She had a high-pitched, whiny voice.

The ticket agent patiently repeated what he had been telling passengers for the past hour. “We’re sorry about the delay but there was an emergency maintenance repair that had to be done on the tracks that carry the train you will be taking. We anticipate it will be at least 10:30 before your train will depart.”

Before the woman could say anything else, a phone rang and the agent turned to answer. After conferring with the person on the other end of the line for a few minutes, he hung up the receiver and reached for the public address microphone.

“Ladies and gentleman, Amtrak apologizes for the delay of your departure from Chicago’s Union Station. We have just been notified the track has been repaired and the train will be here in ninety minutes. The train needs to be cleaned and we can anticipate it will be ready for departure around midnight. For your inconvenience we will be issuing one meal voucher for each paid ticket.”

“This can’t be happening,” the lady exclaimed. “You have to get the train here faster. We have to leave before midnight or we can’t leave for twenty-four hours. It’s bad luck to begin travel on a Friday.”

The exasperated ticket agent looked her directly in the eye and said, “Lady, we’re doing the best we can. I have an entire train load of people who are not happy with the situation but they are patiently waiting.”

“But you don’t understand,” she wailed again. “It’s bad luck to begin travel on a Friday. Terrible things will happen.”

Through gritted teeth, he said, “Terrible things will happen if we don’t get this train out of the station as soon as we can. Like all of those patient passengers are going to revolt.”

Jim couldn’t help but overhear the conversation. In fact, everyone could hear her. He sighed. It would be a long trip if this woman was sitting next to you. He had hoped for a peaceful trip. His job had been hectic the past two weeks. The education program he had been developing had been launched and he’d been busy tweaking it based on feedback they had received.

For the next forty-five minutes, Jim sat in the waiting area trying to concentrate on the book he had brought along to read. He didn’t get much read, however, because complainer lady hadn’t let up much. She tried to bend the ear of anyone who would listen as well as, more often than not, those who were trying to ignore her.

“This woman has some serious issues if she’s so upset over whether the train will leave the station before midnight,” he thought to himself.

He looked up as he heard a train approach the station. A subdued cheer went up in the crowd as it ground to a halt. The cleaning team must have worked in record time because within fifteen minutes it had been cleaned, re-stocked and passengers were able to board. At 11:59 p.m. the train pulled out of the station.

Jim settled into his aisle seat, relieved that the one next to him was empty. He stretched his legs, pulled the inflatable neck pillow he had brought out of his backpack and started to settle in for the night. He hoped he would get at least a few hours of sleep on this long trip.

He had just started to fall asleep when he was tapped on the shoulder.

“Sir,” the porter said. “I hate to interrupt you but we had a mix-up with seats. You will be having a traveling companion for the remainder of the trip.”

He looked up and groaned. Standing behind the porter was Miss We Have to Leave Before Midnight. He gritted his teeth and stood up to allow the woman to pass. Maybe he would be lucky and she would keep to herself. Yeah, right. Oh, well, he could dream couldn’t he?

“Hi, I’m Malrylpat Bon Marwentrish,” the woman said. “But you can call me Saffron.”

Still a little dazed from what little sleep he had gotten, Jim shook his head to clear his mind. “Malrylpat?” he asked.

She giggled. “I know it sounds like a sick joke but my parents wanted to name me after my grandparents so they kind of made up my entire name. I don’t think it’s my true name so when I was ten I started to only answer to the name Willow. That didn’t seem right either. About every year I change my name and this year I’ve decided to be Saffron.”

“Oh,” he replied. Then realizing he should at least introduce himself he simply said, “I’m Jim.”

She settled into the window seat and he started to turn his back on her and settle in for the night.

Then she started to babble. “I’m so glad we got off before midnight. I don’t know what I would have done. It’s bad enough that I’m traveling on Friday the 13th but if I had to start traveling on Friday I don’t know what I would do. I don’t fly and I have to get to New York City before tomorrow. Heather Copperpenny is giving a presentation on Defying Superstitions. It’s going to be great. She’s going to talk about how to avoid black cats, ladders and salt. She’s a world renowned expert on true superstitions. It’s going to be great. And the best part is that I’m going to get together with some of my friends from my on-line community, Lucky 7’s.” She paused to take a deep breath and was about to continue but Jim quickly jumped in.

“That’s really interesting,” he deadpanned. “I really need to get some sleep. I have an important meeting when I get to New York and need to be well rested.”

He started to turn again but she still continued to chatter. “Oh, how exciting,” she exclaimed. “What kind of meeting? Are you attending the presentation? Wouldn’t that be cool? We meet on the train and we’re attending the same conference.”

Exasperated, he tried to correct her, but he couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“Did you bring everything for the cleansing ceremony? I had a hard time finding a pure white rabbit’s foot.”

Once again he tried to turn his back on her and ignore her but she just didn’t take the hint.

She continued, “I got lucky. I found one my brother had from when he was in grade school. I was so relieved. Where did you find yours?”

Sighing, then gritting his teeth, he started to say, “I’m not going…”

“It’s going to be a great conference. All of those guest speakers. They were tempting fate by having it the day after a Friday the 13^th. I heard they had to do it then because that was the only weekend available.”

“Saffron,” Jim said sternly. “I am NOT going to the conference and I’m not superstitious. What I am is very tired.” He tried to turn away once more.

As if not even hearing Jim, she said, “Despite the date, I was relieved that it was this weekend. I have important plans for the next three weeks and it is important to cleanse my aura. I’m so excited.”

Frustrated, Jim dug into his backpack. He pulled out a pair of ear plugs that someone had given him when he visited a construction site earlier in the summer. He was so glad he hadn’t thrown them away.

With ear plugs securely placed, Jim closed his eyes and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

Surprisingly, he slept for about six hours. It would have been longer but something bumped his shoulder. As he opened his eyes, he struggled to remember where he was. That was until he heard a grating voice.

“… and I’m so excited about the session called ‘Breaking the Jinx.’ Delilah Ribnowski is such a dynamic speaker.”

Jim looked over to see who Saffron was talking to and realized it was him. Had she been babbling for the last six hours?

He then glanced at those sitting around him. Those who were sleeping or trying to sleep had pillows, jackets, or blankets over their heads, apparently trying to block out the noise. They all had annoyed looks on their faces. Could this Saffron have babbled all night? If she had, he was glad the years living with his stepfather had forced him to be able to sleep through just about anything.

Well, he was up now so he decided to use the rest room. Then he would go in search of breakfast. As he walked through the train car he noticed there didn’t appear to be any empty seats. He found the dining car but there were no available seats so he grabbed a disposable plate of scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns and orange juice along with a packet of utensils, napkins and seasonings and headed back to his seat.

Saffron had not moved and was still there talking away.

Acting ignorant, Jim asked, “Did you sleep well?”

“Oh, my goodness, no,” she said in her annoying nasal voice. “I could never sleep on a train. Someone might take my duffle bag or purse.” She paused for a second and then added, “Don’t worry, I made sure no one took any of your things either.”

“Oh, thank you,” he mumbled. He pulled the tray down in front of him and set down his juice and plate. He opened up the packet of utensils. He took a good look at the eggs. They were overcooked and didn’t appear to have any seasoning on them. He picked up the salt packet and began to rip it open. Just then Saffron stood up and bumped his arm spilling salt all over.

“Oh my goodness,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.” Before Jim could do anything, she grabbed the salt packet and tossed salt, aiming at his left shoulder. “You have to do this or you’ll have bad luck.”

Jim turned to look at her just as she threw the salt. Instead of it going over his shoulder it hit him right in the eye. He grabbed for his napkin and stood up quickly. He forgot about the tray that held his food and juice. It went flying. There was egg all over and juice spilled on his lap. Not one to swear, much less in public, he tried to contain his frustration. Throughout the entire ordeal, she kept tossing salt over his shoulder.

Finally, he snapped, “Stop it. If you want to be useful you could help me with this mess.” His eye was burning as he tried to blink the salt out of it. The napkin he had been using was now covered with juice.

“Oh, I will,” she said. “I’ll just go and see if I can’t find some paper towels.”

He stepped into the aisle to let her pass. A few minutes later a steward approached Jim and asked if he needed any assistance. Together the two of them quickly cleaned up the mess.

There was no sign of Saffron so he sat down and made himself comfortable. He was hungry but he really didn’t want to try and find something else to eat.

He had just started to read the book he had brought along when Saffron returned.

“Here,” she said. “Since I ruined your breakfast, I thought I’d bring you some of mine.”

She handed him a plastic container and then, before he could stand so she could get by, tried to scoot over him.

“Thanks,” he said. Carefully, he opened the lid of the container and stared at it. “What is it?” he blurted out.

“Oh, it’s sautéed spinach, tofu and ground pork,” she said. “They are all New Year’s good luck foods. I figure if they’re good luck for the new year they’d be good luck for Friday the 13^th as well.

Picking up his fork, he gingerly poked at the food, then bravely took a bite and tried not to gag. The dish was cold. He didn’t mind spinach. The only other time he had tried tofu had resulted in an upset stomach and spending the night with his head hanging over the toilet. Still, he had been willing to try it. The real problem was the ground pork. It looked like she hadn’t drained the fat off of it after she had fried it and had just poured it on top of the other ingredients. The fat had congealed all over the spinach.

“How do you like it?” she asked between bites of her own meal. “It’s one of my favorite meals.”

Mr. Honorable found he couldn’t lie to her but wasn’t sure what to say. Finally he replied, “It’s interesting.”

He tried to take another bite of the food but his stomach revolted. Quickly, he stood up and without putting the food container down he headed to the restroom. He spit out the food into the toilet and then flushed the rest of food as well.

After rinsing his mouth, he decided to try one more time to get something to eat. After all, what is that they say? ‘Third time’s the charm.’

This time he bought a breakfast sandwich. There still were no seats available in the dining car. He quickly unwrapped it and ate it before anything could happen to that one.

He glanced at his watch and groaned. It was only seven o’clock. He had at least another ten hours before he got to New York City.

He returned to his seat with the hope of some peace and quiet. Saffron was there but for once she wasn’t speaking to anyone.

He slid into his seat and started to read again. For twenty minutes he read in silence. He tried to ignore Saffron with the hopes that she would forget about him. The book he was reading was action-filled but he soon found his eyelids closing and he was fighting to stay awake. He put the book away, pulled out his travel pillow and decided to take a nap. It would be a long weekend without enough waking hours as it was. He might as well take advantage of the time now.

Something was poking him again.

“Jim,” Saffron gasped. “Something terrible has happened.”

He stretched as her words registered.

“What happened?” he asked. “Is there another train delay?”

He glanced at her and saw fear in her eyes. He couldn’t imagine what was so terrible.

“No, your shirt is buttoned wrong,” she explained.

He looked down and sure enough, he had skipped a button. “Thanks,” he mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

“You don’t understand,” she said. “It’s bad luck to button your shirt wrong. Terrible things are going to happen.”

Jim started to laugh, then realized that probably wouldn’t be the wisest thing. “I’m not worried. You threw enough salt over my shoulder, I’m sure I’ll be good for a while.” To prove his point, he shook his head and salt rained down on his shoulders.

“It doesn’t count,” she insisted. “I’d give you my lucky rabbit’s foot but I need that for the conference. What are you going to do?”

“I guess I’ll just re-button my shirt the correct way and be done with it.”

Saffron looked out the window. The train tracks traveled next to a highway. They were approaching a town. All of a sudden she squeaked. “Oh, no, can it get any worse?”

“What’s wrong?” Jim asked. He looked over and noticed she was pinching her nose. “Do you have a bloody nose?”

“It’s much worse, there’s an ambulance over there,” she said pointing with her free hand.

“Well, I hope no one is hurt too bad,” he commented.

“No, you don’t understand,” she said through her pinched nose. “It’s bad luck to see an ambulance and the only way to break the curse is to hold your nose until you see a brown or black dog.”

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked. He glanced at his watch hoping they were close to the end of their trip. Unfortunately, they had at least six more hours. Well, maybe if she spent the next few hours looking for a black or brown dog she wouldn’t bother him.

For an hour or so, Saffron stared out the window of the train, eyes peeled, looking for that elusive dog. Jim was amazed that the entire time she kept her fingers pinched to her nose.

“I can’t believe I haven’t seen a dog,” she said, flexing her fingers on one hand and then placing it on her nose and doing the same with the other one.

“Does it have to be a live dog?” Jim asked.

“Oh, that’s gross,” she exclaimed.

Jim chuckled. “I didn’t mean it that way. Can it be a picture of a dog?”

“Nope,” she said shaking her head. “It has to be a live one that I see with my very own eyes.”

Pretty soon Jim started to feel sorry for her and started looking out the window as well. They stared in silence for several more minutes. He fought to stay awake. The scenery was beautiful but it still started to put him to sleep. He started looking at the cars traveling down the road that paralleled the train.

Several of the cars had kids in them. He smiled as they waved at them. He didn’t know if they could see him but he did wave back at them. All of a sudden, a dog popped his head up into the window of a minivan.

“Look,” he said, pointing to the animal. “That looks like a black dog, doesn’t it?”

Saffron threw her arms around him. “Yes, it is. Thank you so much. I don’t know how much longer I could have sat like that.”

Jim tried to extricate himself. After several tries he finally did. He decided to get up and stretch his legs. He was starting to get restless. He also needed to get away from Saffron. She was really getting on his nerves.

He walked through several cars, nodding to people as he went. There were two little boys who looked like they were about six. Their parents looked frazzled from the trip and they seemed to be ready to roar. There was an extra seat across the aisle from them so Jim sat down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. On the key chain was a pocket puzzle and for an hour he kept the boys entertained. More importantly, he avoided Saffron.

As they approached New York City, Jim returned to his seat to prepare for the arrival. Originally, he had planned on taking the train to Sleepyside but Tom Delanoy had volunteered to pick him up. His dad had needed Tom to bring some important documents in to Wheeler Enterprises so he was in the city already.

He was looking forward to the peace and quiet of the car. Well, it wouldn’t necessarily be quiet as he never had trouble finding something to discuss with his father’s chauffer.

As he gathered up his things, Saffron continued to babble. He was past the point of even pretending he was interested in what she had to say. He had heard her stories about five times and he could recite them verbatim.

The train pulled into the station and everyone was eager to debark. Jim would have let others ahead of him but Saffron was too impatient. As he stepped into the aisle he noticed a penny. He started to bend down to pick it up and thought better of it. He headed down the aisle and hoped he’d seen the last of her.

“Wait,” he heard her yell and turned around.

Saffron stood up and raced after Jim. “You have to take this penny,” she insisted. “It’s a lucky one since you found it. You don’t want to tempt the fates now, do you?”

Jim had reached his breaking point. If he ever heard someone talk about superstitions again it would be too soon. With his duffle bag in one hand he tried to make his way off the train. Unfortunately, he couldn’t shake Saffron. She followed him all the way down the aisle. The entire time she kept yelling about him needing to have the lucky penny. Then she started talking about that damn rabbit’s foot. He couldn’t begin to think of what he’d like to do with that stupid foot.

As he stepped onto the platform she caught up to him and shoved the penny into his hand.

“I do not want that penny,” he said through clenched teeth.

“But you have to,” she pleaded again. “I can’t be responsible for your bad luck.”

That did it. Jim finally lost his temper.

“My bad luck began the minute you sat down next to me and it will end when we go our separate ways. I do not believe in superstitions or good luck charms. I believe I am responsible for my own actions,” he shouted. The crowd around him stared at him.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “You can’t mean that.”

“You bet I do,” he said. He glanced around and got an idea. “Just watch me.”

He had noticed a ladder standing near the wall. He marched over and walked right under it. He thought Saffron would faint right there. “See?” he taunted. “I’m going to have bad luck. But let’s not stop there.” He looked at the ground and purposely stepped on every crack he could find. Much to his surprise, she followed him through the station. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his umbrella. There was no sign of rain but that didn’t stop him from opening it inside the station. She started to wobble. Jim continued on his tirade.

He spotted someone with a cat carrier and to his surprise it looked like the cat was a black one. “Look Saffron,” he said. “More bad luck. There’s a black cat.” That did her in. She started to wobble. The responsible, honorable side of him started to kick in and he headed over to her.

He was stopped by a man who had more necklaces around his neck than he’d ever seen before. One was a cross, another looked like a St. Christopher’s medal. There was a four-leafed clover and a rabbit’s foot hanging from chains. The clincher was the garlic necklace he was wearing.

“Stay back!” the man shouted at Jim. “This woman does not need to be helped by someone who so obviously brings bad luck to the world.”

Jim stopped and watched as the man put his arms around Saffron and steadied her. It didn’t take her long to come back to her senses. It was obvious that Saffron was okay and the man was attending the same conference she was.

“That’s it,” Jim said. “I’m never traveling on Friday the 13th again.”

Jim turned and headed outside the train station. He’d never been so relieved to see Tom Delanoy as he was when he walked outside.