Misfortune Cookie
The Works of Mark Edgemon from All-Creatures.org

Mark Edgemon has been writing for 30 years. He writes and publishes short stories, articles, poetry and scripts, as well as, produces audio comedy productions for over 700 radio stations nationwide.

Contact Mark through his website, Creator and the Catalyst.

Misfortune Cookie

John and Samantha loved Chinese food, especially egg roles. They were out with another couple at his favorite Chinese restaurant, when at the end of the meal; the waitress brought everyone fortune cookies which was the practice at most Chinese restaurants. People read their fortunes out loud until it was John’s turn. When John opened his fortune cookie and began to read to himself before sharing with the rest of those at the table, he was horrified at what he read. It read the person sitting on the other end of the table, will die soon. He refused to read it out loud and put the fortune in his pocket.

Later that night, he received an urgent call from his friend’s wife crying and telling him her husband, his friend had died today in a car crash and his funeral would be the day after tomorrow. John felt numb. He remembered the fortune he had read earlier in the day and wondered what to make of it all.

John went back to the restaurant and randomly asked the waitress for another fortune cookie, which when he received it, he opened it to see the message contained within. The message read, “April fools to all who received a misfortune cookie yesterday. It was all in fun.”

When he got back home, everything was dark. Then suddenly, the lights came on and his wife and the friend who he though was dead and his wife who pretended to be upset on the phone earlier all jumped out to surprise John as he walked through the door.

They played a joke on him knowing that all of the misfortune cookies had the same dire prediction on them. John was not amused. While they continued to laugh and mock at John’s surprised look when he came through the door, he thought to himself, just wait, I’ll get them…I’ll get them all…it’s payback time!

John couldn’t let it go. He was going to get them far worse than what they did to him. His wife was his first target. He would wait until she slept. He was going to restore his honor no matter what the consequence.

It seems that practical jokes are not so practical.

Copyright © 2008 Mark Edgemon

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