Everyday Magic

In her sixtieth year Maud had become a content, well rounded, little woman.

She had never been too adventurous, but now she could avoid adventure a lot easier than before, as she could bring up excuses as her age, her weight, various ailments when prompted by close or distant relatives to travel and visit.

Maud was happiest at home, with her routine, driving her snug Mini to work, taking her Receptionist seat in the small, glass cubicle she was the only master of, and whose space she occupied almost in its entirety.

Maud was very kind with all the people she met, but she was very private, so only those that had been working with her for a long time or her neighbors knew that Maud had a particular way of being in the world.

Some of her colleagues had got a sight into it once, a few years back, when at a Christmas party one of them got a bit tipsy and while dancing too erratically kicked over a mirror and smashed it.

Nobody got hurt, but for days after Maud talked incessantly about how unlucky it was for the person that knocked it over, as they will have seven years of bad luck. Maud was so convinced of it, and repeated it so many times, that everybody in the center where she worked became very cautious around mirrors.

Maud was not very flexible, but sometimes, totally at random, you could see her nimbly bending down and picking up a coin. It did not matter if it was one cent or one euro, Maud would pick it up and slip it in her pocket (somehow her clothes always had pockets) and would mutter to herself a few words.

One of her colleagues with whom she had been working for a long time, saw her do this, and dared ask about it. The reaction surprised them! Maud was not bothered at all, but she was bright and pleasantly surprised when she answered:

‘Money attracts money! So if you pick it up and you will it to attract money your way, it will!’

The statement could not be disputed and the colleague was happy to have had the action clarified although they could not really believe it was true.

Also, sometimes, the hallway where Maud’s glass reception cubicle stood, would resound with powerful knocks echoing in the quiet emptiness. As her desk was metal, Maud would wheel her chair close to the wood paneled hallway wall, and knock on wood to ward off bad luck or not to tempt faith.

An unfortunate accident happened though once caused by Maud’s penchant for superstitions. During lunch in the employee lounge somebody knocked over the table and the salt contained in a plastic tub got spilled everywhere. Quick as lightning Maud took a big pinch and threw it over her shoulder to blind the devil, only the devil turned out to be the centre’s meek accountant who got hit with the salt right in the eyes.

The accountant yelled from the top of his lungs and a huge commotion ensued. Maud empathized with the accountant’s pain, but did not feel bad for causing it, she was doing a good thing, for all of them. She was keeping them safe!

From that moment on the accountant steered way clear of her and Maud did the same, being somewhat suspicious of the short, stocky man. He looked too buff to be an accountant as far as Maud was concerned.

For a quiet life Maud had her fair share of running intos. She brought a child to tears yelling at her not to dare open the umbrella she was playing with in the waiting room. The mother made a complaint to the center manager who sat Maud down and explained that nothing bad happens if somebody opens an umbrella, it is just an old wives’ tale. Maud begged to differ and left the room huffing and puffing.

Maud’s quirky nature made her an acquired taste, and while there were those that disliked her deeply, there were others that found all her little stories fascinating and they would sit to have tea together in their break listening to her tell them about why she never takes the stairs, or where throwing coins in water originated.

It was clear to see that Maud’s superstitions were quite a compulsion, but that did not stop them from being fascinating. When they were bored and gossiping some of them thought that she needed a really good therapist to fix her.

What they did not know was that Maud’s superstitions gave her life color, they gave it richness and a magical side that embellished it by connecting Maud to a wider reality than theirs.