Luck

FF #3

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaachhooo!"

There was a bit of a commotion in the room. People were whispering, nudging, discreetly pointing at sneezer. Creases of worry seemed to replace smiles, laughters, eyebrows raised at new gossip, and a diversity of facial creases.

Dorian noticed the change. The circle of admirers around him seemed to be thinner, distracted. Distracted from Dorian! As far he could see, there had been no earthquake, the Prime Minister was presumably still alive, the alcohol in the party seem to be still flowing freely. Yet he had ceased to be the centre of attention. His good-looks, his charm, his magnetism, he, Dorian Gray, was no longer working the usual way. Now that interested him. What could have happened? He tried listening. That was not something that he usually did. But then unusual circumstances called for unusual tactics. He heard people talking about a sneeze and something about six fingers. Six fingers? He was intrigued now.

There seemed to be another person in the room, near the food-- specifically the desserts-- who seemed to be unaffected by the commotion. Dorian went up to him, "Hi, I'm Dorian." The man reluctantly placed his plate on the table, and extended his hand, and then suddenly retracted it and sneezed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaachhooo!"

He wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, and then his hands, and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I seem to be coming down with a cold. I'm Mohun".

There was something strange about the hand he shook. Mohun noticed his glance and giggled.

"I used to have a sixth finger. It fell off within a month after I was born. That's what remains of it now."

The room seem to have emptied.

"Where has everyone disappeared?" Dorian cried.

"Actually it's me. My sneezes, rather. My sneezes are supposed bring misfortune to others. Bunkum actually, but people get worried by it".

Dorian thought to himself, unlucky for me too, I guess-- my admirers are all gone all because of your sneeze.

Irritated, Dorian turned around, about to leave too.

"You are a very good looking man."

Ah, a new fan, thought Dorian. Not so unlucky after all.

He turned back at Mohun and flashed a brilliant smile.

30 Nov, 2013

*This was written following specified prompts, one of which was "A Famous Character from Fiction"-- I've used Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray here.