The Decameron 2.0

Day 9.5 Coincidence - SPINNING THREADS Desiree Brett

The barman tipped several packets of peanuts into a bowl on the bar. Soon everyone was munching away and waiting eagerly for the next story.

~ ~ ~

High within their celestial plane, the three sisters of fate are going about their tasks. Clotho is spinning the threads of life while Lachesis sorts the strands, determining where one's life should be cut. From there it's up to Atropos to decide the how of one's demise. It's all in a day's work for the sisters. That is, until Clotho unexpectedly spins two threads simultaneously.

"Oh, crap. Not again."

"What is it this time, Clotho?" Lachesis asked. She held a heavy pair of shears with a silvery strand dangling between the sharp blades.

Clotho held up the threads for her sisters to see.

"Oh, the poor dears." Atropos spoke up from her scrying pool.

"I know," Clotho pouted. "They never last long when they come in pairs."

<<>>

Mary had just sat down for some home cooked Lean Cuisine when her cell phone chimed, alerting her to a new message. She'd been mindlessly twirling the pasta onto her fork but then paused when she saw that the message was from Tom. She barely even knew the guy, but every time she received a message from him her heart sped up and her palms grew damp.

They'd met on one of those online dating websites. In his profile picture he had been dressed as the Talladega Nights guy. The rest of his profile had been hysterically tongue –in-cheek. Mary told herself that it had been his sense of humor that had caught her attention. In truth, it was his smile that reeled her in. Mary considered herself to be a realist. She didn't believe in love at first sight or serendipity. Instead she believed that you made your own luck and sometimes shitty things happen to good people.

As she read his message her mouth dropped open and the fork fell from her fingers, taking most of the pasta with it as it clattered to the floor.

He was coming to New York, and he wanted to meet her.

She'd only been messaging him for a few weeks. For crying out loud, they hadn't even spoken on the phone. There was no way she was ready to meet him in person. That's what she told herself anyway.

Covering her mouth with her hands, Mary giggled hysterically before she picked her phone up to reply.

<<>>

Tom was just getting ready to leave the office when his phone chimed.

That was fast; he thought while he tried not to feel disappointed. It had been stupid to ask if she wanted to meet. Hell,for all she knew he could be some crazy psycho. It was just that when he'd found out that he was being sent to New York for a meeting, he'd been so excited that he'd wanted to tell her. Asking her out on a date had been a brash decision that he regretted the moment he hit SEND.

Shrugging into his jacket, Tom picked up his phone with the intention of pocketing it and reading the message when he got home. Instead, he stood there looking down at the message icon that glowed brightly, beckoning to him.

Ah, hell. Maybe it was best to rip it off like a Band-Aid and get it over with.

His thumb hovered over the icon before he pressed it harder than he needed to. When the message came up all the air left his lungs in a whoosh!