Cindrella Mainali

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Published On: December 4, 2018 09:44 AM NPT By: Cindrella Mainali

THE JINXED MAN

THE JINXED MAN

Trrrr trrrr. The alarm went off. Ram Bahadur woke up immediately. It was an important day for him. An important presentation was scheduled for the day and if all went well he would be in for a big promotion. He opened the laptop and checked the slides again. He had been through them so many times now that he knew each word by heart. After struggling for almost 15 years he finally saw an opportunity for promotion and naturally did not want to ruin it. Not that his sincerity was not acknowledged before. But bad luck stuck with Ram Bahadur all these years as if it were his middle name. As luck would have it, his hard work remained unappreciated all these years but none of his mistakes failed to catch his boss’s notice. He was well known in his office but not really for the right reasons. ‘Poor guy! What a jinxed life!’ they exclaimed. 

Ram Bahadur got ready and rushed to the kitchen where his wife was preparing breakfast. ‘Make it quick. I got an important presentation today!

Ram Bahadur grabbed a newspaper lying on the table. Out of habit he turned to the last page where the daily horror scope were printed and read his. It said : Not a good day to make impression. Work related trouble could affect you for some days. Travelling via vehicles is not a safe option today.

“Oh God! What more misfortune can befall in this already jinxed life?” he exclaimed. Maybe he should never have asked the question. 

It was quite early when Ram Bahadur left and the streets were nearly empty. The fresh morning air lightened his mood a little and he started humming a song while pleasantly swinging his briefcase. Suddenly Ram Bahadur felt a strong pull from behind. To regain his balance he let go of the briefcase and when turned around he saw a masked man running away with it.

 ‘Thief!’ he shouted following the person as fast as he could .He chased him all the way to the main street and when the thief ran across the road he blindly followed him.  In his haste he did not notice a car coming from the other side and when he did it was too late. ‘Wham!’ the car hit him and everything went black.

When Ram Bahadur opened his eyes he was in the hospital bed, his legs bandaged, his wife sitting beside him with teary eyes.

‘Are you ok? I got so scared. We thought we lost you. How on earth did this happen?’

Ram Bahadur took a deep breath and replied, “Somebody snatched my briefcase and ran away. My laptop and all the important papers were in there. I ran after him, didn’t notice the car coming. The rest I don’t remember.” He looked into her eyes and with a heavy heart said, “My presentation, my promotion, all ruined.”

“But why did you walk to the office? You never do that. Why didn’t you take the bus?”

“The horror scope in the paper said i might meet with an accident today if I take a vehicle. I didn’t want to take any risk today. Better safe than sorry I thought. Maybe it was destined to be this way.”

“Which paper are you talking about? The paper walas are having a strike. No paper came today. Where did you read the horror scope?”

“The one on the dining table.”

“You say you walked to office because you read the horror scope on the paper I kept on table?”

“Yeah!” “Oh you jinxed man! You invite trouble to yourself!  That was yesterday’s paper I took out to spread it inside the cupboard!”

 

alarm, presentation, jinx, life,

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