Get Lucky

Get Lucky!

An erotic short by

NONA WESLEY

Kim Treacher didn’t immediately catch the glint of something metal. She then thought it nothing more than a trick of the eye, perhaps a reflection off the picture window of the store she’d just left. However, when she realized the sun didn’t shine towards her, but was positioned directly overhead and therefore couldn’t illuminate the glass as well, she turned her head. There, on the sidewalk near the pedestrian crossing, was a large coin.

Nice, one for the found money can.
Whatever loose change she discovered on her walks or in parking lots went into an old tennis ball can in her closet. Usually she collected enough in a year to buy a savings bond or, if she wanted to splurge, some CDs and a nice dinner. Judging from the size of the disc, given the distance, she hoped for at least a Kennedy half-dollar.

With nobody approaching, Kim quick-stepped to the corner only to happen upon an unusual coin—gold, or gold-toned—bearing no presidential profile, but an image of a pot of gold crowned by a rainbow. Disappointed, she stepped away. Junk, she decided. Probably a plastic gift handed out at some restaurant, or garbage left over from last month’s Mardi Gras block party. Whatever. Standing here pondering it didn’t make Kim any richer, and she had more shopping to do.

As she returned to her car to unlock the driver’s side, a high-pitched squeal broke the silence. Kim looked up to see a thin blonde practically diving for the coin. She held it to the sky, as if to inspect every nail grooved along the round edge. “I can’t believe I found one!” the woman cried.

The scene amused Kim. To think anybody could be so naïve, excited over counterfeit money. “It’s not real,” she called over to the blonde. “I saw it myself. It’s fake.”

“Huh?” The woman whirled toward Kim with an expression that implied Kim had toppled over the deep end toward lunacy. “You actually passed this up, and you’re standing there like
I’m
the idiot?” With a huff, the blonde pocketed the coin and dashed away, leaving Kim with her hand curled around the handle of her car door.

What the hell?
Perhaps the woman had faulty laser eye surgery, so that she couldn’t tell real money from some made in China novelty. “Okay, lady,” she muttered, getting into her car. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”

* * * *

At her favorite lingerie boutique, Kim browsed the sale bin and had selected three pairs of lacy panties—cream and ivory to perfectly contrast her dark skin—when an uproar near the checkout station caught her attention. Women clustered around the counter, murmuring excitedly among themselves, and a flash of something bright escaped from the tight knot of people. Sensing déjà vu, Kim abandoned her potential purchases and moved closer.

Laura, the willowy redhead worker Kim knew on sight from her frequent visits, cradled in her palms a coin resembling the very one Kim saw on the street that morning. “Can you believe it?” Laura whispered as she showed off her bounty. “Just opened the register and there it was. Talk about this being my lucky day.”

All around her, women nodded and cooed and congratulated the clerk. Kim could only stare, amazed. Why all the fuss over worthless tokens? She looked closely at the coin, as best as she could given Laura’s trembling hands. It didn’t have the appearance of actual minted currency—just round plastic made to resemble money. Again, she had to ask herself what about these things caused such giddy behavior.

To hell with it
. “What’s it mean?” she asked, addressing nobody in particular. They obviously all knew the coin’s significance; Kim didn’t care who told the story.

The laughter ceased and now all eyes bore down on her. Laura frowned. Great. Once again she, the rational one, had become the idiot.

“You don’t know?” Laura asked.

“If I did, would I ask?” Kim tried to maintain her calm, fearing a snide reaction might zip up lips. “Some lady went nuts over one of these very coins on the street this morning. Is it really worth something?”

“Oh, hell yes,” blurted the woman next to Kim, and the laughter resumed. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Apparently the day had been designated as one colossal inside joke to which Kim had no knowledge.

“So…?” Kim gestured to the group in a hurry-up motion. “Do you redeem it for something? Is it a gift certificate? Or maybe it’s like one of those Willy Wonka golden tickets. You’re gonna get free chocolate for life?”

Pale fingers curled around the coin and Laura drew back her fist. “Oh, it’s better than that,” she said, nodding. “It’s not every day you find genuine leprechaun gold.”

Okay, time out.
“Do what now?”

“It’s true, that’s a leprechaun’s coin,” confirmed the chubby brunette next to Kim. “You find one, and it’s worth your heart’s desire. You can make any wish, no limitations.”

“Well, except for wishing for more wishes,” chimed a voice behind Kim.

“Ah.” The
Looney Tunes
theme sounded off in her head, and Kim thought better of saying anything more. These women already deemed her odd for not recognizing the significance of the so-called gold. Deciding against her purchases—and probably shopping here altogether in the future—Kim stepped back and waved her farewells. “Congratulations,” she told Laura. “Make it count.”

Once outside, she added, “Better not wish for a man. He might show up wearing a white coat.”

* * * *

The rest of the afternoon, thankfully, passed without incident and fanciful tales of leprechauns and myths. Sated by her day off from work, Kim fixed a light dinner and settled in to watch her shows. For all her intent to concentrate on the storylines, however, her mind wandered back to Laura and the blonde woman from that morning.

Clearly both believed the coins they found possessed some magical power, so what did they wish for? She imagined if she did venture back into the lingerie store, Laura might be the new owner, or else replaced by a new worker while she embarked on a world cruise. It would be nice to have the opportunity to make one big wish—true love, world peace, a bottomless wallet—but Kim doubted she’d find it in a simple—

Coin?

As she shifted for a comfortable position on the couch, her hand dipped between the cushions and felt something hard. She lifted one corner to reveal a flash of gold.

“What the…?” She picked up the fool’s gold, the same type of coin Laura had earlier, with the pot design emblazoned on one side. Turning it in her hand, Kim noted the image of a four-leaf shamrock, over which the words
Get Lucky!
curved.

How this got in her couch, Kim couldn’t say. She’d not hosted any gatherings recently, and had no reason to buy party favors. She didn’t pick up the first coin from the morning, so nothing could have fallen out of her pocket. What other explanation made sense?

Kim shrugged. Her entire morning hadn’t made sense. No harm in giving the wish a try. At best, she’d confirm her sanity.

At worst, she’d go to bed feeling like an idiot.

She pinched the coin between her fingers and closed her eyes, figuring this a proper procedure. For the one second required, she suspended her disbelief in fairies, pixies, sprites, monsters, abominable snowmen, vampires, werewolves, and even leprechauns. Once finished, she pitched the coin at her coffee table and watched it spin to a stop, clover side up.

Nothing happened. Wishes should be instantaneous, she thought. So much for that.

Kim raised the remote to change the channel when a knock fell on the door.

* * * *

Kim had grown up with a specific image of leprechauns in mind: short and ginger-haired, dressed in a green tuxedo, with an exaggerated Irish accent. This man standing at her door—rugged yet athletic, dark stubble dusting his tanned face, a shock of black hair drooping in front of his crystal blue eyes—looked more like the anti-hero of a biker movie in his black jeans and wife-beater than the leprechaun he claimed to be.

She frowned, keeping a tight grip on the doorjamb. “You’re who, now?” she asked, entranced by his smile.

“I am Kieran, lass,” he repeated his first greeting to her, “and I’ve come to assist with your wish request.”

“My wish.” Kim glanced past the man, searching for cameras or some other clue that she might be the butt of a televised prank. She tried to think of who might plant a novelty coin in her home and arrange this elaborate scheme, but Kieran’s lyrical voice lulled her attention back to him.

“Right here, lass.” He held up his smart phone. “Your wish came through my text messaging system just now, but I have to tell you…it’s a bit difficult for me to understand.”

“Oh, really?” Kim raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. Did I not enunciate correctly in my head?” She had nowhere to go tonight, so why not play along for a while?

“You came in fine, Miss Treacher. It’s the actual request I don’t get.” With that, he turned out the face of the phone and showed her the wish, verbatim, on the tiny screen. What truly shocked Kim, however, was the picture of her that accompanied the text.”

“How did you get my picture?” she demanded, still entranced by the thumbnail portrait, a recent shot for which she didn’t recall posing.

“Aye, we keep everybody on file, in the event,” Kieran said, then, “May I come in?”

“No.”

She slammed the door, then engaged the bolt and the chain. She turned back to the couch and squealed on seeing the so-called leprechaun sitting at one end.

He waved a finger at her. “Now, lass,” he chided, “how do you expect me to grant your wish if you won’t cooperate?”

“How…what…?” Kim’s heart pounded wildly. Her apartment had no other entrance, and she swore Kieran had stood outside when she locked him out. This couldn’t be.

“Aye, but it is true,” Kieran said, as though reading her mind. “Leprechauns are a crafty, and often playful, breed.” To drive the point home, the handsome man waved his hand and a small bouquet materialized out of nothing, his fingers curled around the stems. “But when somebody manages to snag us for a wish, we believe firmly in fulfillment.”

“Yeah, well…” Kim found nothing within reach to make for a suitable weapon. Figuring, too, if Kieran meant her harm he’d have attacked her already, she lunged for the door and unlocked it. “Well,” she began again, “you can take your flowers and your pink hearts, yellow moons, and blue diamonds and get on out of here. We’ll let that be my wish, it doesn’t get any clearer than that.”

“I’m afraid I canna’ do that, lass.” Kieran tut-tutted, and clicked his tongue as he rose. Damn, but he had some nicely roped arms, and the tank-style of his white shirt really brought out the tan on his skin and the muscle definition in his shoulders. Any other time, in a different situation, Kim knew she wouldn’t act so hostile. Just his simple smile sent her blood pulsing and her nipples to harden.

“Once you wish on a coin, that’s what you get. No do-overs.” He stepped closer; she didn’t back away. “I see from my logs, right here, that this evening you wished for, ah, clarification.”

Kim folded her arms. “So I did. I wished to know what exactly it was about those blasted coins that turned people insane.”

“That’s all, then?” A cross of amusement and confusion creased his brow. “Usually, when people find our gold, they’ll wish for something a bit more substantial. Like more gold, or stock and annuities. It changes over time.”

“I didn’t think leprechauns really existed,” Kim said, weary. “I guess you’ve proven me wrong, so your work is done.” As she spoke, disappointment filled her heart at the realization of what had happened. She burned off a genuine wish—she could have had her bills paid, her retirement secured, or her car replaced with something a hell of a lot nicer, and she blew it. Of course, she had been tempted to lie and say she’d wished differently, but these guys had her on file!

“Perhaps.” Kieran nodded, and pocketed his phone. “Or, since I’m here and there’s anything else you’d care to have…”

Kim held up her hands. “No more gold coins. Sorry. I thought you said no do-overs.”

“That I did, but if you find another coin, that’s another wish.”

Then he curled his fingers and raised them to his mouth. Kieran coughed once, and a dubloon fell from the loose fist onto her coffee table next to the first coin. Kim stared at first, unsure of what to do. She’d only just learned of leprechauns, and she certainly didn’t know the protocol behind “found gold.”

“Aye, what have we here, but a wishing coin?” Keiran’s grand gesture toward the small stash of loot drew her attention. Even in the dim of her living room, with only the muted television providing light, the gold seemed to glow. “Looks like this is your lucky night, eh?”

No way did Kim want to be tricked into something. “Is that legal, what you just did?” she asked. “Seems from what I remember about leprechauns, you’re supposed to catch one to get his gold.”

“I’m certainly making it easy for ya, aren’t I?” Kieran winked.

Lord, but that simple gesture set her pussy throbbing. Having such a handsome man in her home reminded Kim of the last time she’d entertained a man at home for her pleasure. Last year, it was, maybe the year before that. If he continued to leer at her so, it wouldn’t take much for her to grab up the second coin and wish for two more studs like him to ravage her tonight.

She jumped in her skin when a ringtone sounded, and Kieran fished for his phone. Reading the text, he chuckled to himself. “Two studs like me, eh?” he teased. “Did I mention I have brothers?”

Shit!
Of course, he would have the capability of reading minds. How else could he have gotten her first, nonsensical wish? “T-that doesn’t count, does it?” she asked, apprehensive yet intrigued by the idea of two more hunky leprechauns popping into her apartment, ready to fuck.

“Just messing with ya, lass, you have to physically claim the coin to validate. Now,” the phone disappeared and he twined those long, thick fingers of his, “if you’ll pick it up, your wish is my command, as they say in the storybooks.”

Kim thought of those fingers stroking her skin, rolling and pinching her bare nipples before plunging into her pussy to ease the growing ache. Much as she craved the feeling, however, something stopped her from bending to retrieve the gold. Say she did wish for Kieran for the night, then what? If she experienced mind-blowing sex guaranteed to spoil her for mortal men, and she never found another coin, would it drive her to distraction?