Good Luck Charm

By: Rip

Some people have a knack for finding strange things. Strange things always seem to find Zane Legends. Sometime Zane finds something strange, and doesn't realise until it's too late.

Zane was walking back to his apartment with a bag of take-out from his favourite Bistro. Granted, he had dined in, and didn't have leftovers, but Zane always felt it was good to be prepared and had gotten into the habit of ordering take-out to take home. Today's haul was an extra large serving of the Bistro's signature potato soup, and about half a dozen grissini. The scent of the potato soup combined with his brisk pace set Zane's stomach rumbling again. He couldn't wait to get back to his apartment, and decided to take a shortcut. He didn't usually like cutting through the series of alleyways that created a more direct path to his home. All those fire escape staircases clinging to the walls, black and metal and ominous....they gave him the willies.

Zane clutched his take-out and powered through, head down. The chances of those stairs falling off the building and trapping him were minuscule, he convinced himself, though his pace quickened.

It was because he was so intently focused on the ground ahead of him that Zane noticed the coin. He halted in his hurry and stared at it for a moment.

The side he assumed to be the face had what he could've sworn was the pattern of an hourglass, but there was a groove vertically down the centre, instead of sand. The opposite side of the coin had, much to Zane's surprise, the letters 'Z' and 'L', superimposed.

“Sausages, what's the chance of finding something as interesting as this?” Zane said, pocketing the coin. Once he got home, and finished eating, he'd give it a good polish and perhaps use it as a paperweight...or maybe a good luck charm.

Zane was walking back to his apartment with a bag of take-out from his favourite Pizza joint. Granted, he had dined in and didn't have leftovers, but Zane always felt it was good to be prepared and had gotten into the habit of ordering take-out to take home. Today's haul was two extra large, extra deep slices of the Pizza joint's signature pie, and about a half-dozen parmesan knots. The scent of the pizza combined with his brisk pace set Zane's stomach rumbling again. He couldn't wait to get back to his apartment, and decided to take a shortcut. He didn't usually like cutting through the series of alleyways that created a more direct path to his home. All those fire escape staircases clinging to the walls, black and metal and ominous...they gave him the willies.

Zane clutched his take-out and powered through, head down. The chances of those stairs falling off the building and trapping him were minuscule, he convinced himself, though his pace quickened.

It was because he was so intently focused on the ground ahead of him that Zane noticed the coin. He halted in his hurry and stared at it for a moment.

The coin on the ground at his feet wasn't of any current denomination he knew of. In fact, it was quite a bit too large to even be a coin. Zane shifted his precious package to one side, and bent down to pick up the strange disc. It was heavy, but not too heavy for its size, which was about the diameter of one of those real quality dried apricots. Zane turned the coin over in his hand a couple times, examining the markings. The side he assumed to be the face had what he could've sworn was the pattern of an hourglass, but there was a groove vertically down the centre, instead of sand. The opposite side of the coin had, much to Zane's surprise, the letters 'Z' and 'L', superimposed.

“Sausages, what's the chance of finding another one of these?” Zane said, slipping the coin into the same pocket as his good luck charm, which was identical to the coin he'd just picked up, if a bit more polished.

Zane was walking back to his apartment with a bag of take-out from his favourite Indian restaurant. Granted, he had dined in, and didn't have leftover, but Zane always felt it was good to be prepared and had gotten into the habit of ordering take-out to take home. Today's haul was an extra large serving of the Indian restaurant's signature curry, and about half a dozen papad. The scent of the curry combined with his brisk pace set Zane's stomach rumbling again. He couldn't wait to get back to his apartment, and decided to take a shortcut. He didn't usually like cutting through the series of alleyways that created a more direct path to his home. All those fire escape staircases clinging to the walls, black and ominous...they gave him the willies.

Zane clutched his take-out and powered through, head down. The chances of those staircases falling off the building and trapping him were minuscule, he convinced himself, though his pace quickened.

It was because he was so intently focused on the ground ahead of him that Zane noticed the coin. He halted in his hurry and stared at it for a moment. The coin on the ground at his feet wasn't of any current denomination he knew of. In fact, it was quite a bit too large to even be a coin. Zane shifted his precious package to one side, and bent down to pick up the strange disc. It was heavy, but not really too heavy for its size, which was about the diameter of one of those old-timey rainbow lollies. Zane turned the coin over in his hand a couple times, examining the markings. The side he assumed to be the face had what he could've sworn was the pattern of an hourglass, but there was a groove vertically down the centre, instead of sand. The opposite side of the coin had, much to Zane's surprise, the letters 'Z' and 'L' superimposed.

“Sausages, where do all of these keep coming from? This is the third one I've found.” Zane said, putting the coin in his pocket with the other. He'd have to look up a coin collector when he made it home, after he ate of course.

Zane Legends was walking back to his apartment with a bag of take-out from his favourite Steakhouse...