The Unlucky Lucky Coat

Tara Lennox was an attractive woman with an eye for fashion. She had a good job in advertising and could think of nothing better at the weekends than heading off to the shopping mall to find something new for her wardrobe. Tara could afford the best and always managed to turn heads with the choices that she made. However, she did not like her new coat that she had bought just a month earlier. Not that it wasn’t stylish and eye-catching. After all, she had bought it in the House of Fraser and it hadn’t been cheap. But, as far as she was concerned it was unlucky. She had been wearing it when she failed an interview for a new job that she really wanted, also when her boyfriend of three years had finished with her and again when her purse had been stolen in Marks and Spencer's. As far as she was concerned, the coat was cursed and it had to go.

She felt no emotion or sense of loss when she handed it over the counter in the Oxfam charity shop. “I hope someone gets good wear out of it,” she said to the assistant, “It has brought me nothing but bad luck.” The assistant was a little astonished. It was not every day that they received a coat of this quality and she knew that it would sell quickly.
The coat was examined and priced up, then put out on the rack in the specialist section that held designer labels. It won’t be long ‘til you are gone the assistant thought as she hung the coat in the size 12 section.

Lisa Fraser was down on her luck.  A happy-go-lucky young woman, she had lost her job as a retail assistant owing to the cuts caused by the downturn in trade. Usually up-beat in her view of life, she was now fed up. In fact depressed. Her boyfriend had dumped her when he heard of her job loss and she was in a state of despair. She had spent the three days since pacing around her flat, watching TV but not taking much in, making cups of tea and downing fair amounts of wine. Nothing seemed to help and she needed something to liven her spirits and get her back into the world again. Retail Therapy, that’s what I need she thought. Then she thought again. She didn’t have much money. Being on benefits was a curse, every penny had to be counted and there was never much left for her after the bills were paid. But she felt she had to get out, spend something and to heck with the consequences. I owe it to myself and I can scrape through until next week, she thought
She had £40 for herself and so decided to head into town and see what she could buy. It was autumn and the days were getting cold, so she thought she would do a trawl of the charity shops and see if she could find a winter coat that was warm and if lucky, a bit classy looking.

It was bone-chilling cold on a damp October day as she made her way into town to start her quest for a coat. She felt the slight return of her former positive outlook and was looking forward to coming home with a quality bargain. She knew that they could sometimes be found, but it was all a matter of luck. Sue Ryder’s didn’t have much on offer, so by the time she stepped outside she felt deflated again. The world was against her she thought and today would prove fruitless. One shop after another offered nothing that took her fancy and there was certainly nothing that fitted her vision of what she wanted. She entered Oxfam with a sense of indifference. There’s going to be nothing different here she thought…anyway it is too expensive in Oxfam.

She trawled through the women’s section with a sense of disinterest and dismissed one garment after another. Nothing…blouses…sweaters…jeans…not at all what she wanted. Even the coats were of no interest and seemed a bit worn for her taste. She had come for something special and nothing special jumped out at her. She was about to leave when she thought she would give the designer section a look. She didn’t usually bother with this section since the price tag was usually more than she was prepared to spend. One by one she flicked through the rail of coats…nothing much or else too expensive. Then she saw it, a calf length black woollen coat with a fur trimmed collar. She could tell straight away that it was a coat of quality and she liked the look of it. She turned over the ticket…£40…much more than she would normally spend in a charity shop. She dithered a while and thought, no. Then she looked again and decided it was just the style of coat to suit her. What harm she thought, I’ll try it on, it won’t cost me anything.

Looking at herself in the mirror she was sure no coat had ever looked so well on her or ever made her feel so good. What the heck, she thought, I deserve a bit of pampering and some good luck for a change.

“It’s a lovely coat,” said the assistant as she placed the coat in a large bag. “It only came in this morning and it is almost new. It probably cost about £500 new.”

“Oh, it’s lovely, just what I am after Lisa responded. I shall enjoy winter in this coat.”
Lisa felt she was walking on air as she made her way home and could hardly wait to try it on again and take a proper look at herself. Putting the coat on, she swung around and looked herself up and down in her full length mirror…there was no doubt she felt elegant in this coat and she knew she had obtained a bargain, even though, £40 was all she had and had been a lot to splash out on one item of clothing. But she had done it and felt no regret. All she needed to do now was take it to the Dry Cleaners and that would make it ready to wear. Deciding to check the pockets, Lisa found a crumpled tissue in one pocket…it made her cringe a bit since she had grasped it firmly in her hand. Checking the other pocket, Lisa was more cautious, but she could feel a card that she thought might be a business card of some sort. Taking it out she saw that it was a lottery scratch card. Checking it carefully she noticed none of the panels had been scratched off and so decided she would try her luck.
Scratching off the three panels revealed identical symbols. Oh I wonder what this means she thought. Then checking the card she realised that three symbols the same brought a reward of £5,000. Jumping and shouting with glee, she pulled the coat to her, hugged it and with a big smile shouted out, you really are a lucky coat!