I was a little girl when I heard for the first time someone saying, “Bad luck! 13. Add a black cat and you are done!” That woman’s voice and the look in her eyes when she said these words to someone else remained in my memory a lifetime.
I was small, small and probably those were my first wondering moments. I didn’t know at that moment what a number meant and especially 13, but for sure I knew what a cat was and especially a black cat. I liked cats… any child likes cats… but I loved black cats and they loved me. there was such a strong attraction between me as a child and any black cat… known or unknown, for a long time I thought anything that’s black and meows, could be tamed by me.
I am not very sure I knew at that moment what luck was, or bad luck for that matter, but being that a black cat was included in that statement, I automatically assumed that it was something very good. So, I instantly decided in my childish mind that 13 was as good as a black cat… meaning something gorgeous.
Since then… while crossing the mandatory stages called childhood, teenage and youthfulness, no one had succeeded to convince me otherwise, that 13 and black cats are notions which can bring anything else other than huge luck.
Of course, they tried to persuade me about this universal truth… a black cat and 13 brings so much bad luck. They tried to include me into a world filled by superstitions but they didn’t succeed to make me change my mind. I am too stubborn to let someone convince me about anything, if I feel things in a different way.
And so… despite their knowledge based on their life experiences, the poor me who didn’t know so many things about bad luck, the poor me whom I was looked at as a human being who doesn’t know and can’t recognize a universal truth… continued to live my life loving 13 and black cats. Moreover, I lived loving anything that was defined as a bad luck bringer.
Why? You may ask. Well… because… simply because I knew they always brought me luck.
With one exception… and that day was my first time when I started to wonder if somehow I was wrong.
I am wondering now. What is luck?
I know, they say that luck is an accidental way things happen without being planned.
So… you can have good luck or bad luck by accident. But I am wondering… how is it possible that the 13th day of the month can bring you good or bad luck? What accident can the 13th day cause?
Each time number 13 has crossed my life, I have not notice any accidents.
Moreover, if we can classify that luck can be good or bad…
I am wondering now… by chance, can there be an accident to cause neither good nor bad luck but something in-between, say neutral luck?