Roll a One

Life is a series of random events, or so we want to think. Lady luck rolls her die, and we hope she doesn’t throw a one. The gods of chance, misfortune, chaos, and fortune play with our lives. They roll their dice for their amusement. They laugh and cheer when they roll a twenty, but they laugh and cheer more when they roll a one, the number of disaster. So my dear reader, what happens when you are cursed to always roll a one.

“What time is it?” Philip yelled as he bolted from the bed. He looked at his dead alarm clock as he scrambled out of bed and to his dresser, where he left his cell phone the night before. Philip gasped at the time, panicking that he was late for his first class of the day.

He looked back at the dead alarm clock cursing that he had followed that online advice to not sleep next to his cell phone. He had forgotten he had unplugged the alarm clock the night before. Instead, he had plugged in his essential oils Himmilayian salt diffuser (another online advice for sleep and allergies).

Philip ran to his bathroom, bumping into his dresser, almost knocking himself down. He needed to get ready as quickly as possible. He turned on the facet to his shower to let it warm up. Nothing happened. He frantically turned both knobs back and forth, hoping that something would happen. The city was doing work on the water lines, and his water had been cut off temporarily. He cursed that he had forgotten and assumed he would already be at school while they were working.

He dressed quickly in the cleanest clothes he had; apparently, he had forgotten to put his clean clothes in the dryer. Cursing more, he grabbed the cereal box from the cabinet and the milk from the fridge. He dumped out too much cereal only to find that he had a small about of milk. He quickly chocked down the dry cereal as best he could. This was not his day.

He ran back into his bedroom, grabbed his keys and wallet from the dresser, and ran out the door. If he timed it just right, he would catch the next bus to the school. He felt fortunate that the bus stop was in front of his apartment. He ran out the front door to see the bus had arrived early and was now pulling away. He stopped and cursed some more, then blushed to see he was standing in front of the local church’s nuns. They usually took a different route on their walk to the community garden. Today they decided to walk by his apartment as he was cussing.

Very embarrassed, he started to walk to school. Philip briskly walked to the college campus, cursing himself for his bad luck. For a moment, he thought he heard a woman giggle at him. It was the stress he told himself.

By the time he made it to the school campus, it was time for his third class. He had missed two classes and his break. Philip glided into the classroom into a seat just in time for class to start. He was breathing hard and sweating but made it.

He reached down to open his bookbag only to realize he never picked it up. He had left it on the bed. He sat dumbfounded, realizing that he didn’t have his books, laptop, paper, or even a pen on him. Great he said to himself, now he wasn’t prepared for any of his classes. He sat idling, listening to the teacher as he fumed about his bad luck. At least after this class, he could get a coffee and something quick to eat.

Class droned on and on, but soon it was over. Philp jumped from his seat and headed to the student center. Coffee was the only thing on his mind. He entered the center to see a long line to the small cafe. He got in line and resided himself that he could play on his phone and wait. He played junk food crush while waiting in line, but never made it past the current level.

“Excuse me.” A voice brought him from his irritation to his game. He looked up to see the cashier.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I’d like a large coffee and one of those pastries.” He pointed to the display.

“That’ll be 7.56.”

The cashier waited, and Philip began his dance of where is my wallet. He checked each of his pockets and then looked at the cashier sheepishly.

“I forgot my wallet.” He said.

“Do you have your student ID card?” The cashier asked, annoyed she had to keep reminding other students they can pay with student ID.

“On my keys!” Philip excitedly pulled out his cell phone charger.

“Those aren’t keys.” The cashier wished the school enrolled smarter students.

“What?” Philip looked at his “keys” and realized he had picked up his cell phone charger instead. “I forgot my keys.” He said, dumbfounded.

“Yes, you did. Next!” The cashier practically shouted.

Philip left the cafe dejected. At least his roommate can let him in. Then the slow realization that his roommate had left this morning for his conference and wouldn’t be back in several days. The landlord! Wait, he was visiting his sick mother. He was locked out.

He began to think about his morning. When he bumped his dresser, he must have knocked off his keys and wallet. He cursed himself as he sat without coffee and a pastry. He decided to text his girlfriend. She would make him feel better. He grabbed his phone to find that a low battery symbol flashed at him. He forgot to charge his phone, at least he had a charger. His luck was changing.

Philip walked around the center, looking for a free outlet. Everyone was there working on laptops or charging various devices. He tried a few times to ask if he could use an outlet but was told no. He drifted out into the hallway and found one a spare outlet.

He sat on the floor next to it like he was guarding his precious treasure. He plugged in his phone and nothing. Nadda. Zilch. He jiggled the plug and nothing again. He removed both ends and nothing. He twisted and turned, and finally, it started to charge. Then stopped. He twisted the cable, and the phone dinged. But then the low charge alert came back. His cord wasn’t working. He sat on the floor and stared at the carpet. Today wasn’t his day.

He sat there on the floor, feeling sorry for himself. He cursed his misfortune. While he fumed internally, he began to feel better and gave himself a private laugh to shake off the bad luck. He knew the rest of the day was going to be better. Then he looked at the clock and realized he was going to be late for his next class.

Philip jumped up quickly. He took a quick inventory to be sure he picked up everything then dashed to the door. He knew if he power walked to class, he would be there just on time and not too much out of breath.

The world tipped forward. For a split second, Philip thought, well, why not. He hit the hard ground bruising his knee and hands while attempting to break his fall. Looking down at his feet, he saw his shoes were untied. He said a few choice words while he tied his shoes. He was now late for class.

He sat in class, not paying attention to the lecture. Sure, it was necessary, but he wasn’t into it. He had one more class, and then he would be off to the student center to meet up with his friends in the role-playing club. He could take his frustrations out on the imaginary monsters.

Classed dismissed, but before he left, he checked he had everything and that his laces were secure. He raced off to his next class. He was going to beat his misfortune for sure this time.

The downpour was sudden and fierce. Many students were near some shelter when it hit and wasn’t too soaked. Except for Philip, he was in an open area of the campus. The sudden cold water soaked into his clothes quickly, causing him to shiver. He thought the forecast called for no rain, but he knew not to count on that today. He didn’t attempt to find shelter, he continued on to his next and last class. Once he entered the building, it stopped raining. Figures, he thought.

He sat in the last class, shivering. He hoped that he would dry off before he caught a cold or worse the flu. Everyone gave him a wider gap due to the puddle that has formed around him. He was miserable but determined to make it through the day.

The class ended, and he was glad. He checked all of his possessions, secured his shoelaces that had become united again. His trip to the student center was longer than normal because he stuck to various places that gave him some shelter if it rained. It did rain in sporadic bursts when he had a long walk between cover.

The student center was a noisy, fun place. Students and some faculty would gather and have meetings or club meetups. His group was the local role-playing club. They met twice a week, and he was happy to finally be among friends and relax after his terrible day.

“What happened to you?” Missy asked when he sat down next to her.

“Many things, but in this case, I got caught out in the freak storm,” Philip said.

“Wow, bad luck. I had just stepped inside when it started.” Missy said.

“Dude, you are wet.” This was the DM Todd. Philip nodded as each player asked about why he looked as if he showered in his clothes. A few told jokes, and others were sympathetic.

“Anyone got a phone charger I can borrow?” Philip asked.

“Sure,” Missy said, handing one to him.

He plugged it into the outlet next to their table, and amazingly it worked. He was thrilled; his luck was changing.

“Ok, folks,” Todd said. “We left off with your group entering the room of the dragon. Let’s fight.”

“I charge.” The warrior said.

“I’ll cast heal.” Said the healer.

“I’ll set up a defense.” Said the druid.

“I’ll use my harp to sing and give boosts to everyone.” Said Philip, the bard.

“Roll.” Said Todd.

“20”

“13”

“17”

“1”

“Ouch, Philip, that hurt,” Todd said. “The dragon breaths fire. Roll.”

“15”

“12”

“7”

“1”

“Ouch, Philp, you are not doing well.” Todd teased.

It went on and on and one. Philip rolled a one.

“Ok, dude, use my dice,” Missy said.

One.

“Dude! We are dying.” The warrior was aggravated. “Use mine.”

One.

“What!” Todd said. “Look, everyone is down, but you, Bard. You need to roll at least a 7.”

Philip concentrated on the die. He was going to roll 7 or more.

One.

“No way!” They all shouted.

“Ok, how about this. Two or more.” Todd was giving them a chance.

One.

“No!” Philip rolled again and again. One every time.

“Look, the gods of the land have taken pity on you. Roll a one.” Todd smiled, and everyone laughed.

“Fine,” Philip said, aggravated. He rolled, the die rolled around the table bouncing, and finally, it landed perfectly on one of its edges.

Everyone stopped and stared at the die perfectly balanced on the pointed end of number one.

“Dude, you are cursed.”

“Maybe.” Philip reached for his phone and hit the first contact. Everyone stared at him in confusion.

“Hey, babe!” Philip said happily into the phone. “How is your day? Good, good, Mine has been rough. Look, I’m sorry about what I said. I believe you are the Goddess of Luck.”

The sound of the die falling over echoed throughout the room. Twenty.

Revised: 20200827