by Ron Day

He was sent to live with his mother's spinster aunt. Amazingly, a total renovation of a spare bedroom for him cost $3,000 exactly. Now that was indeed lucky.

And when he graduated from high school in 1965 Uncle Sam sent him on an all expenses paid tour of Viet-Nam. When he got back home he'd saved enough money to buy a new car and fill it with gas. That was lucky, too.

After Viet-Nam he needed a job and was lucky enough to find one with a small company that manufactured glass bottles for the soft drink industry. At $3.25 an hour people said he was lucky to find such a good job with a future.

Harold met a girl, Brenda, in 1969, and asked her to marry him. She agreed but soon thereafter ran off to Denver with one of his co-workers, a fellow naamed Buck. The betrayal of course saddened Harold, but his boss told him he was lucky and promoted him, with a 15 cent an hour raise, to replace the errant Lothario who had stolen his girl.

Three years later, when the bottle factory folded, Harold took a cut in pay and gratefully went to work as a gas station attendant. The job ended with the gas shortage of 1973. Harold told himself he was lucky he hadn't wasted too many years learning a now useless trade.

Because he was out of work he had to sell the car he'd bought after his tour of Viet-Nam. He got $850.00 for it. His friends told him he was lucky to have got that much since never again would gas hogs like his 1968 Dodge Charger with a Hemi engine have any re-sale value.

Harold got real lucky in June of 1975. That's when he married Susie "Choo Choo" Trainor, and also took a new and promising job at SUNRAY, Inc. SUNRAY manufactured modular solar panels, "The Only Energy Source For The Future", as his business cards proudly proclaimed.

And Susie was quite an eyeful, too. Harold's friends and co-workers were envious of his good luck in snagging such a beauty. As it turened out, though, Harolds real luck was the stranger who pointed out a three page full color photograph os Susie, fully nude and proud of it, in an April, 1974 issue of "Beautiful Dames Magazine". Harold and Susie parted ways in August of 1975. The divorce was final in February, 1976. The judge told Harold he was lucky, most divorce cases took over a year.

In May of 1977 Harold's boss at SUNRAY, Inc. called him into his office, shook his hand and asked him to sit down. The company was doing far better than anticipated he told Harold, and because of this he was giving him a thirty cent an hour raise and promoting him to Supervising Manager. Harold was now making $4.85 an hour, more than he'd ever made in his life. He told his friends that he knew he was luckier than most.

SUNRAY, Inc. went out of business in June of that year. Harold hadn't yet closed on the home he'd decided to purchase after his promotion and raise and he was able to cancel the contract. His realator was unhappy, of course, and said Harold was extremely lucky he was only losing his $1,000.00 down payment.

Harold eventually landed a decent job, working in a large department store selling refrigerators and freezers. He did well and in a few years the store offered him a better job, at a higher rate of pay, at a sister store in San Francisco. Harold accepted the job and a month later was living in San Francisco in a small one bedroom apartmnent with a kitchenette, selling his small import car to pay the first month's rent and damage deposit. He was tired of the tiny car anyway, and was glad to be rid of it. He considered himself lucky to be within walking distance of his new workplace.

Living in San Francisco was more expensive than he'd thought it would be. Harold had to close out his meager savings account of $400.00 just to furninsh his small abode and buy enough food to last until he received his first months check. He was lucky he'd had the foresight to save that little nestegg, he told himself.

The new department store was much larger than Harold's previous place of employment, with many more employees. By the end of the first month though, he was starting to feel comfortable and had even made a friend or two among his fellow salesmen. When payday finally came he smiled broadly as he pulled a check for $586.79 out of the envelope bearing his name. Out of habit he double checked the envelope before throwing it into the trash. He found a pink slip inside. They were sorry he'd been let go, it said, but because total sales were down at all west coast locations they were cutting back employees by 53%. Harold was lucky he'd double checked the envelope. Otherwise he would have been embarrassed when he showed up for work the next day.

Harold became discouraged and despondent. He moved out of his small apartment, losing his damage deposit because he'd failed to give advance notice. He began sleeping in a nearby alley. Eventually he sought out the comforting taste of alcohol. Now un-employed and without transportation in a large and strange city his immediate future was looking might dim. But still, even after purchasing several fifth's of Webley's Mountain Mist, he had over $100.00 left out of his paycheck. And that was lucky.

Harold became a street person, roaming the sidewalks of San Francisco. Every now and then he'd earn a few dollars by sweeping sidewalks and washing windows for business owners. His hair grew long, his face was un-shaven, and he and his clothing smelled bad. It wasn't the life he'd pictured for himself, but at least he was alive.....and he was lucky he still had his health.

One day a stranger appeared before Harold's bleary eyes and persuaded him to go to his home, a large home high on a hill with a long driveway and perfect green lawns. He filled a tub with hot soapy water, made Harold take a bath, his first in over a year, then gave him clean clothes to wear. Afterwards he fed him a large meal of pot roast, potatoes and carrots, lots of cold milk and huge slices of warm bread lathered with real butter.

He asked Harold if he knew anything about computers. Harold, of course, didn't know a thing, had only heard the word mentioned a couple times in his life. The man said it didn't matter. He told Harold that computers would soon control all facets of the world's economy, that no business, or even government, would be able to operate without them, that every home in the U.S. would eventually have one.

He then went on to say that a friend of his, a Mr. Gates, had started a computer company. He was looking for someone like Harold, a smart man who learned fast, a man who just needed a break, to train as Marketing Director for him in the city of Seattle. The pay would be excellent, with free lodging the first six months in Mr. Gates' home. It could be a great opportunity, the man continued, saying Harold could be off the street, living the life of luxury for the rest of his days.

As Harold listened to the strangers' words he thought back over the years. He remembered the bottle factory that went out of business and his brief stint a gas station attendent before gas station attendents became obsolete. He recalled the solar panels that were "The Only Energy Source For The Future" and the department store that had promised him so much then left him penniless in the streets. He thought of the women who had hurt and humiliated him and of the many people who had found ways to relieve him of his money.

Harold decided then and there that it was time for him to get smart, to finally take control of his life, of his destiny, instead of letting other people control them. It was time, he decided, to put the hard lessons of his past to good use.

He looked proudly at the stranger and in a steady and firm voice...... refused the offer. He would never be taken in again!

And as the man drove him back to the streets of San Francisco Harold took a final backwards glance at the big house. He smiled as he remembered the warm bath, the great food and the clean clothing he was still wearing.

"I really am a lucky guy!" he said quietly to himself.

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