This week from the Ranch…
October 14, 2015 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that reveals or explores a moment of serendipity. How did it come about? What did it lead to? You can express a character’s view of the moment or on serendipity in general. Use the element of surprise or show how it is unexpected or accidentally good.
My life is really one serendipitous moment after another but if I think about serendipity, I can’t go beyond how my parents met. I’ve posted about that here! In case you missed it.
Actually you do wonder if this counts. A bomb exploded in central London during the working day. As a result my parents got together but what of the inevitable casualties, the loss of property? Can one couple’s good fortune mean you ignore other egregious effects?
In many cases of the luck involved in serendipity, someone, off stage might suffer. Not necessarily directly but they don’t get the chance afforded to the lottery winner. Is serendipity to be conditioned and if so how? Meeting one’s future spouse was serendipitous but what of the girlfriend left behind? Maybe that relationship was ending and all that happened was an acceleration but can we be sure?
Not much in life is purely Yin without the Yang. Lurking somewhere is the dark side of the moon and we shouldn’t be blind to it. When there are sliding doors, someone’s fingers might get trapped.
Charli mentioned that we have had serendipity as a prompt before. So I checked. It was my first ever attempt at one of Charli’s prompts. Here it is, if you’re interested. Charli’s first comment? ‘You pooped well’. Oddly I took that as a rather quaint Idahovian encouragement. And I’m still here.
And so to the flash this week, Mary and Rupert are taking their long postponed trip to Ireland to try and find Mary’s long lost twin. This previous flash may help you set the scene.
The luck of the Irish
Mary climbed into the cab, while Rupert went to the far side. She wondered if this whole trip to Dublin to try and find her twin was a mistake. At least being with Rupert had, so far, been easy. Fun even. Though leaving Charlotte and Penny hurt.
‘So what are you two planning?’ The cabbie sounded cheerful. ‘Bit of romance?’
Mary snorted a laugh and Rupert joined in. She said, ‘We’re siblings. Looking for a long lost relative.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. Katherine Potts.’
The cabbie laughed. ‘Never. My aunt is Kate Potts. She’s English. Adopted…’
Mary shook her head. ‘Coincidence…’
And here’s the whole back story of Mary, her family and their daily tribulations
You are right Geoff. For the serendipitous moment there is the black side. I thought that when writing mine – could I call a collapsed bridge with oodles of casualties a serendipitous moment. It was for my man who slept in but……
Your flash reminds me of the smallness of the world and how these moments of serendipity are more frequent than we imagine and yet always they take us by surprise.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It is strange, isn’t it, how many of these coincidences happen but put them In a story and people are sceptical…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Absolutely. They say truth is stranger than fiction….
LikeLike
I never considered the dark side of serendipity, but you’re right. even though that might make my next serendipitous moment less happy, but at least I’ll have a wider view of the world.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I hadn’t really considered it when I mentioned mum and dad and then it struck me how awful the same moment must have been for others. . Funny old world, thanks for commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Popped! I said you popped well! Ha, ha! But then I had to figure out why the heck I said THAT…I think Londonese and Idahovian didn’t exactly connect (you said you’d give it a pop, I said you popped well and then thought I meant pooped because the dog did). Oh, I’m laughing! And so grateful you’ve hung out at the ranch despite our cultural differences at times. 🙂
Sobering up — hope that translates to halting the laughter — I think about your dark side of serendipity. I think it is what happens in between the good and the bad, that it is responsible for neither but shapes the gift found in the wreckage. Insight, a hearty laugh, a new path, a new friend.
Great bit of serendipity that forms an exciting twist in the saga. Happy to see Rupert and Mary getting on well enough to be mistaken for a couple.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes there is a lot in what you say about the gap between good and bad. Sometimes non existent sometimes unbridgeable it is always there somewhere.
LikeLike
Yes, the dark side of it…that’s what I was thinking when I just responded to Irene’s flash. But if you go down that road of what ifs, well, you’ll get lost is a thicket and never come out. I laughed out loud about the pop/poop misunderstanding. And just love that new adjective “Idahovian”! (And quaint to boot.) Loved your post here Geoff, and the flash was touching. I have a twin. If we’d been separated at birth, I think I’d go around the world to find her. thanks for linking to the background flash too. I had read it first time around but it was good to get my bearings.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Jeanne. I hadn’t realised I’d pooped on Charli by accident! Typical old lawyer can’t read properly! And glad you enjoyed the thought processes and story. It’s almost full circle now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Serendipity Happens « Carrot Ranch Communications
Actually, Geoff, the fact that one person’s (or two, meeting up) good luck might be to others’ great disadvantage was one of the obstacles I’ve found in responding to this prompt (so easy to think of stories of missing the plane that crashed etc). But your flash from that previous prompt was one of those that showed me there was another way – I still think that dog poo story is brilliant.
As for Rupert and Mary, why should we be surprised? Doesn’t everyone know everyone else in Ireland? 😉
LikeLiked by 3 people
Lovely last line; Irish (n) meaning: an agglomeration of cousins
LikeLike
These comments, including Anne’s leads me to an exchange that occurs between Hub and I nearly every time there is a disaster. A survivor will say that God looked after them. We always wonder why he didn’t look after the others as well.
But Mary and Rupert now so close to locating their sister – love it! While not a blood relative, they could be cousins with the Cabbie!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes they could be that close.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Could be????? Which blind alleyway are you leading us down this time?
LikeLike
Interesting you mention the dark side of the moon and there I called my flash ‘Lucky Moon’. Different takes on that flip side of the coin. Great point you make Geoff, sliding doors can indeed be dangerous if not careful, and you made me think of all the times when my brother and I are often mistaken for husband and wife at social gatherings…and us being a quarter Irish and all….hmmm 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
That could be embarrassing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Quite…
LikeLike