I think that’s the best word to describe a Friday the 13th, and especially one in December.  Egregious…doesn’t it roll around wonderfully in the mouth?  And just in case your Friday portends to be egregious, here’s a picture of a pygmy possum.  It’s sure to improve your day. 🙂

And now, on to my Flash Friday piece!

Martha crossed off yesterday’s date–the twelfth–and paused before the calender, pen in hand. “Friday the 13th,” she muttered. “My old nemesis. What will you bring today?” Normally she’d take it easy on a day like this, but today there was too much to do. Her grown daughter was flying in from Salem, bringing her baby for a first visit home. She couldn’t wait to see her! And her college-age son who still lived at home would be taking time off this weekend so they could all have a jolly time together. Which meant today was packed with errands to run and groceries to buy. She couldn’t afford to be glancing over her shoulder all day, wondering what this day would throw at her.
On impulse, she set the pen to the calender page and carefully drew two rounded edges to the three in the thirteen–making it an eight in an eighteen. She smiled, feeling tickled with her own handiwork, and picked up her purse. Time to get those errands done!
Her son, Jordan, came through the door, swinging it shut with his foot. He threw a wad of greasy paper towels in the trash. “The car won’t start. It’s dead–and nothing I can see to fix it.”
Martha rocked back on her heels. From the corner of her eye, she could see the mutilated calender square staring balefully. “That’s alright,” she said, speaking evenly. “We’ll take my truck.”
“Can’t.” Jordan shook his head. “It’s at the shop–remember? From when I hit that deer last week.”
Martha stubbornly refused to look at the calender. “Well then, let’s see if Mrs. Field will let us borrow her car–we can get her some grocery along with ours.” She felt a keen satisfaction as she said it–no ornery old date would get the best of her!
“Bzzt! Bzzt!” her cell phone rang.
“Hello?” Martha said. “Kristen? Shouldn’t you be in the air by now?”
Her daughter’s voice came through against a background of static. “They’re having a problem with our plane. They’ve brought us back to the gate, and they’re talking about cancelling our flight. Mom–I don’t know what I’ll do if–”
“Hold on, Sweetie,” Martha said. Craddling the phone against her shoulder, she picked up her pen and scribbled out the eighteen she’d written just a moment ago. Underneath it, she wrote a thirteen, firm and clear. “Just hang in there, and take the next flight out you can,” she told Kristen. “You’ll be delayed, but that won’t matter once you’re here.”
“Okay, and I guess–wait, I better go. It sounds like they have another plane for us!”
After hanging up with Kristen, Martha gave the calender square a little pat, and turned to her son. “Let’s go take a second look at the car. Maybe there’s something we can do.”
This wasn’t the day she’d planned, but it was the day she was having, and the only thing to do with Friday the 13th was roll with it as it came.

Have a great one, and go carefully out there!

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