A Date With Destiny (Short Story)

A Date With Destiny

New York

December 25th, 2016, 5:37 A.M.

Anna nursed her steaming mug of hot chocolate as she inspected her itinerary for the day, the steam fogging up her glasses slightly. She tucked them up into her auburn hair. For now, at least, she felt calm, but she knew this moment of peace was fleeting —the anxiety of the day that lay ahead would hit her like a freight train, but for now, this moment belonged to her. She took another sip.

She'd been dreaming of this day and planning for it all year long, and now that it had finally come, she wanted to savor it. It was Christmas Day, and she was in charge of organizing this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration. Only, the organizing had been done already and all she had to focus on was the execution. She'd spent many, many days and nights working out every little detail of the event so it would be perfect. 85 was her lucky number —it was the year she'd been born; it was the percentage she'd received for most of her grades in school; it was the number on the back of the jersey of her first serious boyfriend who she'd met in college — and now that she'd finally managed to secure this position as event organizer, it being the 85th annual celebration, she felt like it was destiny.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration always held a special place in Anna's heart. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always made a point to catch the celebration live one way or another, whether in person or on television. Her earliest memory of the event was when she was 7 years old and her parents had gone out for a fancy Christmas dinner in Times Square. She caught a glimpse of the massive, sparkling tree as they strolled down 49th street, weaving between people and taxis alike. The next year, her family stayed in and they watched the lighting live on TV, and from then on, it had become their little tradition. Even as an adult, she watched the live celebration in real time no matter what. Her coworkers and friends picked on her sometimes for it but her obsession with the tree was harmless to be sure.

Now, it was her time to shine. She drained the rest of her hot cocoa and scooped up her iPad, determined to get ready quickly so she could get down to the plaza and start getting things ready. Truthfully, everything was ready. She received many compliments from the event volunteers about how this was the single most well-organized event in the ceremony's entire history and how everyone expected this year's stress-free show would go off without a hitch.

After taking a quick but much-needed hot shower, she blow-dried her auburn curls, donned her pressed ruby pantsuit, and troweled on a generous layer of makeup making sure the bags under her eyes would go unseen. Stepping back and posing in the mirror, she gave herself one last once over before grabbing her things and heading out the door.

At 3:45 P.M. she received a phone call.

"Hey, Anna." The voice on the other end said, sounding strange. It was Matthew, the choral director for the event. "We might have a situation."

"What do you mean?" She said, cradling her phone in the crook of her neck as she strolled down 50th from Magnolia for lunch. Her stomach had nearly been ready to eat itself. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to grab her lunch before heading out this morning, but if that was the only detail she'd missed, she'd be okay with that.

"Well, both Eric and Jackson have called in sick. Apparently, they both got food poisoning from eating at Sea Fire."

Anna stopped abruptly on the sidewalk, causing a few other pedestrians, who were following a little too closely behind her, to grumble and go around. "Okay, well what about their understudies?"

"Sam is already down here, but Eric's understudy William is nowhere to be found. I've tried calling his cell about a million times."

Anna told Matthew she'd call him back and hung up. She scrolled through her contacts for the item "William" and hit the 'call' button. The dial tone sounded for several seconds until the line clicked and his voice mail greeting came through. She tried again. Voice mail, again. She bit her lip.