A pebble in his pocket

Shaw started the morning badly. He was late for office, his wife who was 2 minutes from divorcing him, burnt his breakfast and his 28 year old car’s carburetor was starting to smoke.But today was an important day, he was supposed to meet his new boss. Maybe the promotion that was evading him the last 5 years would finally come his way. As he put on his best white shirt and snazzy red tie, he did what the self help book told him to do. Look into the mirror and say loudly “You are the best , better than all the rest”. He wondered if the self help guru was part of Tina Turner’s fan club ,as that mantra sure reminded him of her bestselling song. Quickly pulling himself back into the present, he stuffed his burnt toast into his laptop bag and called a quick bye to his wife. There was no response, which he had expected. Rushing out through the door he nearly tumbled over his two year daughter Samantha. Unfortunately for her, she had inherited his looks, scraggly brown hair and brown eyes, not the brunette and blue of her mothers, but she looked like an angel to him .

As Sam put out her arms to him in a gesture of pick up and kiss, Shaw knew it would make him late, but who could resist that smile. She pecked him on his cheek and whispered in his ear. “Daddy ,a fairy gave me her treasure, and I want you to keep it”. Saying that she slipped a muddy blue stone into his white shirt pocket. Shaw’s perfect white shirt now had a stain the size of the quarter staring out at the world to see. Knowing that he would never have time to change and leave , he shrugged, kissed his daughter and ran towards his car.

Entering the bank where he worked he tried to quietly slip into the conference room where the meet and greet session for his new manager was in going on. He had tried to hide his stain by wearing an old blazer he found at the back of his car, but the 110 F heat of California summer didn’t help, and now he had sweat patches in places that he never dreamed could sweat It was his turn to meet the manager, the sweat patches grew and so did his anxiety. On stammering out a welcome , all he got back was a quizzical glance down his outfit and a off handed thanks. As they all trouped out to sit at their respective desks, Shaw was certain that the bad morning had officially turned into a bad rest of the year. In the afternoon, the bank was quiet. Old Mrs. Guezzner was there depositing her pension, being half deaf and almost totally blind, she required a lot of help. Shaw helped her, as he felt that he might be in the same position one day. As he was quietly counting the quarters and pennies she wanted to deposit, there was a sudden blast. Looking up he saw Gladys the cashier with her hands in the air, Rory the security guard, lying in a pool of blood on the floor and four armed men with black masks on.

The afternoon sure beat the morning in how bad his life was getting. As he lowered to the floor, one of the armed men asked him about his manager. As he looked around searching for the new face, all he could see was a foot of his manager cowering in the corner. Suddenly the quietness of terror was broken by the siren of the police surrounding the area. Gladys for all her 'blondes are dumb' act, had actually pulled the security function alerting the police. It was then that all hell broke loose at the bank. The terrorist started shooting around, warning the police not to come near. Mrs. Guezzner, who thought that they had been rescued, started walking toward the door. Shaw knew he had to pull her down and without thinking just got up and reached out to her. All he felt then was a blow to his chest that put him a few inches off the ground and into the marble pillars, which old banker Stanton had built in 1941.Darkness then came over him and the last thing he remembered was he had just forty five thousand dollars in his 401(K) , and that wouldn’t be enough for his daughter to go to college.

As the squat team burst into the room, surrounding the masked men , the emergency service immediately rushed to Rory and Shaw’s aid. They had to take Mrs.Guezzner with them as she refused to leave Shaw’s side. Gladys was screaming that Shaw was shot right in the heart. They tried to turn him to his side, they noticed a bruise on his head , but no blood on his shirt. As they tried to make sense of what had happened and revive him, an attendant noticed the tear in his shirt. They then smiled, well this was one lucky man they said, he wouldn’t die, the bullet hadn’t hit him, it was lodged in the pebble in his pocket.