Just My Luck

by Jeff Anderson

  I dug into my pocket and pulled out some change. Marquis dropped his three quarters into my hand, one at a time. He never took his eyes off the street, as if the bus wouldn’t come unless he pulled it to us with his eyes.

  “Hold out your hands, boys,” Janie ordered. She held a little red squeezy bottle with a yellow lid in her hand.

  I don’t know why, but I did what she asked.

  “What’s that?” Marquis winced, keeping his arms to his side.

  “It’s liquid candy—for energy.” Janie squirted a line of it on the top of my hand, by my thumb and forefinger. It looked like line of bloody, wet sand.

  “It’s a spicy Mexican candy.” Janie said. “It’s delicioso. It says so on the label.”

  “Ma won’t let me eat Mexican candy because she says she heard it has lead in it.” Marquis shook his head.

  I was finally getting a chance to try Mexican candy; this really was an adventure.

  “Are you sure you don’t wants some, Marquis?” Janie asked.

  He didn’t even answer. He was too busy looking up and down the street for the bus.

  Janie showed me what to do. “Just lick it off your hand like this.”

  I licked the red candy scar off my hand. My eyes watered.

  “Refreshing, isn’t it?” Janie said.

  “Blahk! No!” I reached in my backpack for the sports drink I put in this morning. I unscrewed the lid and swished the warm drink around in my mouth to get the candy flavor out.

  “No accounting for taste,” Janie shook her head.

  “Here comes the bus! Here comes the bus!” Marquis sprang up and down, as if he had just won the Price Is Right Showcase Showdown.

  I was glad the bus arrived before any of us could change his mind and head home.

  CHAPTER 11

  NOT A MAGIC SHOP

  The quarters clanked as I dropped our fare into the slot by the bus entrance.

  Janie sat and directed Marquis and me to sit behind her. Sitting sidesaddle, her arm rested on the back of the seat. “Now we’ve got a transfer to make, so make sure you pay attention. We have to get off at Commerce and Navarro, and then …” she looked at her map, “get on the 43 to South Flores.”

  “What?” Marquis leaned forward.

  “Relax,” Janie said. “I’ve got everything right here.” She folded the directions and returned them to her pocket, patting them like she had a secret. I started to think I didn’t like adventures.

  As the bus pulled out, I was pressed into the back of the seat. I sipped my drink to calm myself.

  “So, Janie, what are you doing at the Fall Fiesta-val anyway?” Marquis asked.

  “I’m going to have a fortune-telling booth to raise money for the library.” She smiled and leaned toward us. “Do you want me to tell you your fortunes?”

  “How are you going to do that?” Marquis asked.

  “I’ve been practicing for a while, but I’m buying a crystal ball today at Mama Lupita’s, so then I’ll be official.”

  “What’s Mama Lupita’s?” Marquis asked.

  “Only the name of the best botanica in San Antonio.” Janie noticed the confusion on Marquis’s face. “Wait a minute.” She looked at me. “Zack, did you tell Marquis anything?”

  “Uh …”

  “I thought we were going to a magic shop,” Marquis turned toward me, puzzled. “You know card tricks and disappearing acts.”

  “Not exactly.” Janie shrugged her shoulders, turning forward.

  “You said it was a magic shop.” Marquis slammed his hand on the seat.

  “I said it was like a magic shop.” I looked out the window. I knew I’d been careful to emphasize the word like every time I’d said it.

  “To be fair to Zack, it is a shop that has magical stuff.” Janie agreed, listing with her fingers. “Like magic candles and water and cologne.”

  “Magic cologne?” I tapped her shoulder. “What are you talking about?”

  Now I was the one confused.

  “Is that what you’re dragging me across town for?” Marquis started poking me in the shoulder. “To get magic cologne for some kind of whackadoo voodoo?” Marquis’s voice gets real high when he’s upset; it was approaching a screech.

  “Uh …”

  “Oh, no, we’re getting more than that.” Janie shook her head. “Aunt Monica said we need a three-pronged approach: magic cologne, magic water, and a magic candle.”

  “That’s casting spells. Not magic,” Marquis insisted. “Magic is about tricks and slight of hand. Like Houdini.”

  “Marquis, maybe we need to get you some magic calming cologne,” Janie offered. “And if you know about Houdini, then you know he and his wife were really curious about things like séances and crystal balls. It’s a fact. I saw a Houdini movie the other night on the History Channel.”

  “No, ma’am. I am not going in that bo … bo … bo … tapioca place. No matter what you say.” Marquis made the sign of the cross in front of his chest. “It sounds evil.”

  “Marquis …”

  “Don’t you ‘Marquis’ me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s too late for that.” Marquis stood. “The only trick here is the one that was played on me.” He moved to the seat on the other side of the bus, crossed his arms, and stared out the window.

  Janie cupped her hand to the side at me. “We’re already getting some attraction water, so don’t worry about him.” She put two fingers on each side of her forehead, doing the Terminator voice again. “He’ll be back.”

  Before I could think of a way to get Marquis to move back to our seat, the bus ground to a halt. The doors opened, and riders got off and on. A bunch of tough guys with bandanas tied around their heads strutted on the bus. They all sat all around Marquis, smelling like BO and fists.

  And just like that, Marquis sat next to me again.

  Janie turned to us, pointing an index finger at each eye. “I told you I see the future.”

  The bus took off and pushed us back in our seats again.

  Marquis glared at the back of Janie’s seat, and I hugged my backpack to my chest.

  CHAPTER 12

  A SLICE OF DANGER

  The transfer had been easy, but ease is not what I felt when the last bus pulled away, leaving us alone on a deserted sidewalk. Tall weeds poked through cracks in the cement. A chilling wind picked up, making the stalks scrape against us. Slowly, we looked around. With all the abandoned buildings, the street seemed like an end-of-the-world zombie movie.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many empty buildings in one place.” I gulped. Graffiti covered almost every surface.

  “No, sir.” Marquis shook his head. I wondered if his stomach twisted like mine.

  Janie pointed. “See that green building over there that looks like a slice of key lime pie?”

  We nodded. The building—totally lime green from top to bottom—sat at a disturbing angle, a giant wedge of danger.

  “The one with all the windows bricked in?” Marquis fidgeted with the zipper on his warm-up jacket.

  “Yep,” Janie said. “We’re finally here.”

  On top of the slice of scary pie, a big painted white sign read “MAMA” LUPITA’S BOTANICA. For some reason mama was in quotation marks. Beneath that was a list: candles, perfumes, incense, powders, herbs, religious articles, and books.

  “Why’d they have to brick in the windows?” Marquis pressed his lips together.

  Ignoring Marquis’s question, Janie spun around and marched ahead without us. But within seconds we’d caught up to her on the sidewalk in front of the store.

  “I don’t think Ma would be okay with this place.” Marquis’s voice quivered.

  “Well,” I whispered to Marquis, “right now being in there looks better than staying out here.”

  Marquis nodded.

  But the feeling that the inside would be safer didn’t last long.

  Janie pulled the door open and a smell, like perfume spil
led on a campfire, rushed out to greet us. We stepped in. I looked around the dimly lit shop. The walls, covered in pegboard, were like the cardboard brown ones in Grandpa’s shed. Except at Mama Lupita’s the pegboards were painted bright colors: red, pink, orange, and blue. And instead of tools, clear plastic bags full of dried-up leaves, tufts of fur, or metal charms hung on the botanica pegboards.

  I turned to see a huge statue looming over me. Spooked, I stumbled back onto Marquis’s foot.

  “Ack!” Marquis yelped as if he’d seen a ghost.

  “What’s going on over there?” A woman snapped from across the store, her hair jet-black and her eyebrows pencil-thin. She looked old and young at the same time—ghostly.

  “He was just was admiring your statue, Mama Lupita.” Janie said, yanking my sleeve. “That’s the Virgen de Guadalupe.” Janie explained, making the sign of the cross in front of her chest.

  “Wow, that statue is two-hundred and twenty dollars,” I said. “She must be important.” The statue stood watch over the shop and all the other Virgen de Guadalupe statues of various sizes all around the store.

  “Why is she staring at us, Janie?” I whispered.

  “She’s a statue.” Janie said. “Her eyes never move.”

  “Not the statue!” I whisper yelled. “Mama Lupita!” I pointed to the lady in black, who lifted her pointy chin.

  Janie rolled her eyes and motioned me over to the cologne aisle. Each shelf was filled with small glass bottles, top to bottom, side by side, lined up like aspirin at a drugstore. Labels explained what the cologne would fix or do.

  Across the store, Lady Doom still stared at us. Her thin eyebrows pinched, watching every move we made. She was seriously creeping me out.

  Then—poof! Mama Lupita was standing beside us, like she’d been there the whole time. Marquis and I let out a gasp and grabbed on to each other.

  “Hello,” Janie said, unafraid, looking right into those black eyes.

  “How’d she do that?” I whispered to Marquis.

  First Mama Lupita was by the cash register and the next minute she’s right beside us.

  “My eyes are playing tricks on me.” I nudged Marquis. “No way she could move that fast, could she?”

  But Marquis just stared forward, clearing his throat. I focused on the shelves to take my thoughts off the magical shifting bruja.

  I kept shopping and tried not to look afraid. Among the rows of small glass bottles, I saw break-up and attraction colognes. I turned to ask Janie a question, but the creepy lady was there instead. I flinched. Mama Lupita’s arms were folded, revealing her black lace sleeves. Up close I noticed she smelled like an ashtray and had a tattoo of some thorny plant growing up her neck.

  “Luck.” Janie grabbed a blue-green cologne bottle from the top shelf as another Virgen statue watched us from the other aisle. “This ought to do it.”

  Mama Lupita grabbed the bottle from Janie. “I’ll hold it at the register.”

  “WAIT!” Marquis interrupted, startling the rest of us.

  The bruja stopped.

  What now? I was freaked out enough without Marquis’s shrill voice yelling every few minutes.

  He thrust another tiny bottle toward me. “Here’s one that says RAPIDO LUCK on the label.” Marquis said. “I think Zack needs luck fast.“ He turned over the little bottle. The liquid was green but this one had a shamrock and a yellow horse on the label. “And look. It’s two dollars and forty-seven cents, just like regular luck, so it’s really a better value.”

  I cracked a smile. Marquis’s bargain hunting calmed him—and me too. Having Marquis act normal made me feel less nervous.

  Mama Lupita put the unwanted basic-luck bottle back on the shelf, grabbed the new, better one from Marquis’s hand, and walked back to the register.

  Even Mama Lupita touching his hand didn’t make him yelp this time. He relaxed a little bit and even smiled.

  “I guess this place isn’t so bad.” Marquis admitted, crossing his arms. He leaned back a little too far into a coyote skin hanging on the wall, The skin dropped onto Marquis’s head—the coyote snout and eyes landing face out, its legs framing the sides of Marquis’s horrified face. “AHHHH!” He shrieked and grabbed the coyote skin’s paws, slamming it to the ground like a wrestler. He jumped up and down screaming and shaking out his hands.

  “Don’t make me throw you out. This isn’t a playground!” Mama Lupita cawed from the cash register, burning a hole in Marquis with her charred black eyes.

  Janie picked the coyote skin off the floor and gently hung it back on the wall. “Good boy!” She stroked it like it was her cat at home.

  I turned back to Marquis and—poof—there the bruja was again, right beside us, smelling like cigarettes.

  I mouthed, “How could she move that fast?” But then I realized I didn’t really want to know—at all.

  “I … I …” Marquis stammered, stepping away from the coyote skin, brushing loose hairs and evil off his back.

  “It was an accident, ma’am.” Janie assured Mama Lupita. That girl wasn’t afraid of anything at all. In this store, easygoing Janie was the normal one. She rubbed her hands together. “Now for the candles. Do you have anything really, really powerful?” Janie asked her, as though she were in a department store inquiring where the shoe section was. “My friend really, really messed up with this girl he wants to talk to.”

  Mama Lupita smiled, revealing a set of really tiny baby teeth. I shuddered, holding back a scream.

  “Which one?” Mama Lupita pointed at us. “The little jumpy one or the big jumpy one? Never mind, it doesn’t even matter.” She and Janie shared a smile.

  Ugh! Those baby teeth looked like Tic Tacs poking out of chewed-up bubble gum.

  Mama Lupita pointed. “Against the wall. Get him a candle. Powerful and impossible to mess up.”

  CHAPTER 13

  REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

  Janie practically skipped to the back wall. Relieved to leave Janie’s new BFF, I followed.

  “You know Janie, the cologne will be enough,” Marquis said, trying to keep close, his hands in his armpits.

  Mama Lupita’s black eyes trailed us as we joined Janie at the wall of saint candles. From top to bottom, tall glass cylinders were plastered with saint stickers that explained what each candle cured.

  “My abuela always lights these in her bedroom,” I said, feeling better for a second. But Mama Lupita’s had more than saint candles; they also had Luck and Fast Luck candles.

  “Look, this one says if you burn it, you’ll win the lottery.” I held the candle out toward Janie and Marquis. “Does this work?”

  “Aunt Monica says it will.” Janie searched shelf after shelf, shopping for the right candle. “If you believe.”

  Marquis tilted his head, squinting. “If the candles actually worked like that, wouldn’t everybody just spend the three dollars and ninety-seven cents and win the lottery all the time?”

  “Be careful.” Janie stopped searching for a moment. “If she hears you talking that way, she might put a curse on you.” Janie tilted her head up toward the convex shoplifter mirror. In the distorted reflection, Mama Lupita stood behind us, scowling.

  My pee alarm beeped in my head. I regretted drinking that whole sports drink. Actually, I regretted drinking any of it. I clenched and hoped it’d go away. Maybe I should look for some “no pee” potion. But first, I had to stop thinking about water—any water. But the more I tried not to think about water, the more water rushed through my mind like raging river flooding my bladder.

  “You need this reversing candle.” Janie handed me a tall red glass candle.

  While Marquis paced, I read the label aloud: “Double-Acting Reversing Candle.” I scrunched up my face. “What’s this supposed to do exactly?”

  “Just like it says on the label.” Janie tapped on the glass. “It will double-reverse your bad luck.”

  “Something about double-reverse doesn’t sound right.” Marquis shook his head.
>
  Curious, I dug my fingernail into the paper seal on the candle’s top to see if it smelled like strawberry.

  “Zack!” Marquis panicked, pointing at the handwritten warning. A piece of white paper hanging on the shelf warned customers: “Don’t poke holes in the tops of candles or you will be charged twice the marked price.”

  “Okay, okay, I won’t poke the top.” I said.

  “Can’t we go now?” Marquis pleaded. “Don’t we have enough?”

  “Two more things,” Holding up two fingers, Janie moved ahead. “First, we need to get some attraction water.”

  “Please don’t say that word.” I didn’t want to think about water.

  “What word?”

  “Oh, forget it.” I stiffened.

  Janie walked to the aisle and pulled a container about the size of a shampoo bottle off the metal shelf. It was filled with a red liquid. “‘Attraction Water.’ This will do it.” Janie read the label as she moved down the aisle, “Can be used inside or outside.” She was getting closer to the cash register. “You can even use it to wash your car.”

  By the cash register, Janie stopped in front of a locked glass display case. “Ma’am, I’d like the clear crystal ball, please.”

  The woman smiled at Janie, unlocked the cabinet, and removed the crystal ball. “This is what I’ve been saving up my money for.” Grinning, Janie turned to us. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “I thought it’d be bigger,” I said. The crystal ball was about the size of a softball. I looked down at the clear ball on the counter. I could see an upside-down image of Mama Lupita on the other side of the case, distorted as in the shoplifter mirror. But I could also see the three of us in it as I moved my head. What you saw moved as your head did.

  “Twenty-three dollars?” Marquis asked.

  “That’s with the stand.” Janie smiled, pulling a pink plastic coin purse from her backpack. “Plus my Aunt Monica is helping me a little because she’s happy I’m following in her footsteps.”