This Friday is Friday the Thirteenth.
Wondering if what they say about Friday the Thirteenth is true or not, I decided to see out an expert. However, he did not lurk in the usual places: the Halls of Academe, government think tanks, in the stratospheric realms of corporations. Finally, acting on a tip from an informant and free-lance yogurt pusher, I found him.
It was a dimly-lit bar, in one of the seedier areas of Music City. The air was filled with smoke, and a desultory tune. This was clearly a place to be careful in! He was pointed out to me, sitting alone and nursing a Jack Daniel. Astonishingly, I found that the place was also a gay bar! And a setting that was inexcusibly furnished with bad furniture choices.
Clearly, I was nonplussed. As a card-carrying female, I immediately thought that someone had impishly routed me in here as a joke, but I thought I'd find out for sure. After all, sometimes sources are accurate.
I inquired; and this large black cat stood up, bowed courtly, and introduced himself as Belial. Was he the authority on Friday the Thirteenth?
After offering me a drink (which I, in the interests of objectivity, politely declined), I got to the issue: what's the story about Friday the Thirteenth, and is there anything to worry about. His answer, given with the soft, cultivated accent of the Old South, was soothing. There's nothing really to worry about particularly on this day. Bad things will happen; but they're just as likely to happen on other days as on the Thirteenth. He did say one thing of concern: People don't worry as much about the Twentieth as they should. However, he did offer solace with the suggestion that celebrating 4:20 was an effective talisman against unidentified evils. There were also stories linking the superstition regarding the number 13 to The Last Supper and to Good Friday. Anyway, some people don't even get out of bed on Friday the Thirteenth, just to be safe.
He did opine, however, that Friday the Thirteenth, because of the myth, is not a healthy day for a black cat to be going around. That's why he was hanging out in a Nashvillian gay bar.
Truly, I have never met a cat as charming.
By the way, next year we have Friday the Thirteenth in May.
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