Impossibly Lucky

My son and I made our way up the long, steep stairs towards the playground at his school, for once not rushing to beat the bell.  It was a brilliant morning, crisp but sunny, and dew sparkled across the hill of clover.  C, in typical first-grade fashion, was walking up the ledge on the side of the stairs, hanging over the railing and scouring the clover for anything unusual.

“There’s a four-leaf clover!” he exclaimed suddenly as we neared the top.  “Right there!”

“Wow!  The leprechaun’s haven’t gotten that one yet,” I replied with faux excitement, because I definitely didn’t see what he was talking about.  To my surprise, though, he didn’t dwell on his find, and we continued on to his classroom hand-in-hand.

Seven hours later I picked C up at the top of those same stairs.  As we started back down, he looked up at me and asked, “Can I get that four leaf-clover I found this morning?”

I gazed across the expansive hill covered in thousands of tiny green clovers and imagined us searching for a non-existent four-leaf version for hours.  I also cringed at the thought of a possible melt-down when the said specimen could not be located.

“Please? I know where it is!”

“Okay,” I agreed with a reluctant sigh.

C happily hopped over the railing and started parting the carpet of clover, kneeling down to inspect each one.  While he began his search, I sat down on the stairs and closed my eyes, ejoying the sun on my face.

Less than two minutes later I was shaken out of my sun-induced daze by C’s excited voice.  “Here it is!”

No way, I thought.  I opened my eyes to see a huge grin spread across his face and a big, green, four-leaf clover in his hand.  No way! I thought again.

“Whoa, that is amazing, Buddy!  I can’t believe you found it!” I laughed, standing up to take a closer look.  Sure enough it was a genuine four-leaf clover.

C shrugged, although he was obviously pleased with himself.  “I had a feeling it was going to be a lucky day when I saw it this morning!”  And then, as if to prove his point, he found a shiny penny at the bottom of the stairs. “See?”