Short Story – Under the Acorn Tree

Molly had a horrible day. The sun may be shining and faces may be smiling on the people passing by, but there sat Molly, among the acorn trees, crying.

When she woke up that morning she was like all of the other smiling faces. Even when she burnt her toast and spilled her coffee, she didn’t stop smiling. But as the day went on, it got worse and worse. Each incident was worse than the last, from stepping in a puddle to forgetting her lunch, Molly’s smile began to fade. Everyone at her office noticed that she wasn’t herself, and her boss suggested she get some fresh air during lunch.

So, there she sat, under an acorn tree crying over all of her bad luck and wishing she had a tissue. Above her, a squirrel was busy gathering acorns that were still attached to the tree. Molly watched the squirrel and expected to have an acorn fall on her head. Once the squirrel had finished and made his way to the big hole, where he was storing them for the winter, Molly took a sigh of relief. Molly never even noticed the pigeon who had landed when the squirrel had left.

SPLAT!

Molly felt something dripping down the side of her head. Before she could curse at the pigeon’s gift, it had flown away. She mumbled under her breath to herself as she tried to use her white cardigan to wipe her hair. When Molly looked at her cardigan again, it was filled with green and yellow splotches.

“That’s it! I give up!” she yelled as if there was someone there arguing with her.

To her surprise, a voice called back, “Do you need some help?z’

Molly turned around to see a tall man in a black suit and red tie standing on the side walk. He was smiling brighter than the sunshine glowing all around him. He looked like an angel sent from God to help her. The mysterious, angelic man pulled out a fancy green and gold handkerchief from the breast pocket of his jacket, and approached Molly still on the bench under the acorn tree. Before she had a chance to grab it from his grasp, a gust of wind blows the handkerchief into the tree limbs above them. The squirrel, running faster than Molly thought he could possibly move, grabbed the handkerchief and vanished back into his hiding hole.

“It’s okay. I didn’t like that one anyway.” said the man and took her hand. Molly said nothing as if she was unable to do so, as he lead her to his car saying, “Let’s take you somewhere you can get all cleaned up.”

Molly got into the luxury car across the street. As the man closed the door, Molly’s smile began to return. For the first time all day, she felt like her bad luck was finally over. Her body would be found under an acorn tree a week later.