Luck

The race track was filled that day,
Everyone was ready to play,
     when the horses began to gather,
     Crowd was wild!
     ‘breds were set, especially---
     Lucky: the Champ!

You've never heard of Lucky?
     Greatest 'bred there was!
     No one can beat ‘em.
His Number's Two,
     but up the ranks,
     Lucky’s Number One!

Once there was this horse
     insane enough tried to match Lucky,
     wound up never crossin’ the line,
     ended up in a hospital,
     between you and me,
     last I heard, six feet under
     just after sunset the other day,

Anyways, the crowd grew silent,
Everyone was betting on Number One!
     Yes, good ol’ Number Two,
     Better known as Number One.
     Lucky the Champ ‘twas was his name.
Everyone was betting one on him!
     I was too, can't you see my grin?
     bet all I had on ‘em!
I said to the betting guy,
“I want everything on Number One.” The guy turned to me,
“You sure Mac?” His face, a skeptic. I said to him,
     “Whose money is that?”
“Why yours,” he returned and I answered firmly back,
     “I bet it all on Number One.”

For a brief moment before Gun shattered the air,
You could feel the deathly stillness---
The clock seemed to stopped ticking
Then it came loud earsplittin'!
     “Bang!”
Gun went 'breds came charging,
Lucky was first, he always was.
Halfway around the block,
The others followed,
Lucky was amazing!

Nobody noticed the clouds brewing
Neither did they, when wind came chillin'
     Race was nearly over,
Lighting struck from nowhere
Hitting poor Lucky dead center!
     His white flesh charred,
     It was a one to a million chance…!
Other 'breds closeby gotcaught
In some after effect---
     stumble they went
     killing each other
     in wild abandon,
     Save for one.
'bred named Number One,
     ranked Number One Hundred.
     last horse, an oldie,
     Lagging so far back that it took
     more than a minute to cross the line,
     He was sure old.

All around me, huge groan errupted
     as Number One crossed the line,
     everyone lost!
     in every corner,
     men… can you imagine,
     grown men cry?
     such horrid site!
     I couldn’t stand it
     No longer.
I lost five grand on that horse.
My mind was preoccupied at that moment,
I threw my ticket
     From behind me
     Someone picked it up!

“This is Number One! “Number One! Number One!”
He yelled feverishly.
     The odds of someone picking up something like that…
     One thought entered my mind.
     I gave it away.
     It was mine.
     I bet on Number One!
     I bet on Number One!
     Number One! Number One!
     This guy had my ticket,
     The ticket I threw.
     I could not believe my luck.

He kept chanting and chanting,
People turned to him
     as he approached the office.
     everyone was shocked!
     I just stood there,
     kept on thinking…
He collected… all that money…
In my mind… I said, “all that money… gone…”
He was laughing… crying at the top of his lungs…
     “I’m save (weeping)…
     I won’t loose the house…!
     Honey… we’re save!”
He ran across the street
     into the path of a six wheeler.
     a window shattering screech
     then a loud thud
     then nothin'

The crowed went wild!
     like a pack of vultures
     they came charging
All of ‘em were birds-of-prey,
The man dying slowly----
     bleeding to Death’s awaiting arms.
     Medics took their sweet time
     All the people…
The man died knowing
     the crowd feasted on his money,
Like starving vultures at high noon on a desert somewhere.

I left the madhouse.
I got some hundred dollars from him too,
I grabbed what I can and headed home,
I figured, He owed me one,
     after all it was my ticket,
     finders keepers… mine… after all…
While I was walking,
     two men jumped and stabbed me
     took all my money,
     hundred dollars and all!
While I was there bleeding, feeling life slipping by,
     ‘kept thinking…
     “Luck is fickle.”