CW: Saltines, a horseshoe, and a thumbtack.

“Use these items in a piece of writing: thumbtacks, horseshoes, saltines.”
– a prompt for this week’s CW piece.
[Source @DailyPrompt on Twitter]

 

It’s been a week since I was laid off. Maybe two. Truth be told, it might actually be more like a month. There is no longer a reason to keep track. All these days blur together.

It was half past one, and the black coffee I had for breakfast was no longer sufficient to keep my hunger dormant. My laziness gave into the increasingly louder rumblings of my gut, and so I walked to the kitchen to check the fridge. I opened it and stared, as if I just didn’t know what to choose, but in reality there was nothing in there aside from the light. What was I expecting? Food doesn’t just grow out of thin air. There was nothing there the last time I checked, either.

As I closed the fridge doors, in the corner of my eye, I saw a glimmer of hope. Right there on the shelf, there was a box of saltines. I only ever ate them when I was sick, so God only knows how long they sat there, but in that moment I didn’t care. The saltines were going to be my salvation. At least until I opened the box and saw there were only 3 left. A thought about savoring them and having them just one at a time ran through my head, but I felt so emotionally and physically weak that I tried cramming them into my mouth all at once.

First saltine in, second one in, and thir… The third one somehow bounced off my teeth and flew under the couch. Cursing under my breath, I got down on all fours to reach under the couch for that third saltine. You know, the 5 second rule. While I was reaching for the escaped saltine, I noticed something I have not seen before. The previous renters of the apartment must have left it there. Right there, next to the third saltine, there was a horseshoe.

I stood up and then collapsed onto the sofa, happily chewing the dusty saltine. The horseshoe is a sign of good luck, right? I looked it over, wondering how to hang it. I’ve heard people say the luck “flies out” if you put the opening on the bottom, while others told me that the luck would “fly out” if I put the opening on the top. Finding this horseshoe was going to turn my luck around. I just had to make the right decision on how to hang it.

With my mind made up, I stood up and walked towards the wall I planned to hang it on. OUCH! What the – ? I cried out, wincing in pain, jumping on my left foot. There was a thumbtack stuck to the bottom of my big toe of my right foot. So much for a turn in my luck. I hissed while taking the thumbtack out of my toe and hurling the horseshoe out the window.

Now that I think about it, I hope it did not hit anyone on its way down. I live on the 5th floor.

There still is only light in my fridge…

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P.S. As always, you are more than welcome to use this prompt to inspire your post. If you decide to write something, be sure to pingback to this post, so that I can get an alert and check your post. The more, the merrier.

Stay golden,

.

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