If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all

Image courtesy of Flickr user Tim Sheerman-Chase by way of a Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_uk/

So.

The guys came over to refurbish the exterior of our units at the townhouse complex. In the process they caused a lot of destruction, namely:

1. They destroyed my potted plant, Methuselah, that had been with me since 1996.

2. They hammered around the sliding glass door so hard the plaster inside the frame cracked and fell off.

3. Knocked the shelf off the wall in the laundry room.

4. Destroyed the dryer vent.

5. Tore a rip in the sliding screen door upstairs.

6. Punched a nail through the wall of my upstairs bedroom.

7. Broke the globe around my downstairs front-door porch light.

Now I come to find they’ve done more:

1. Cracked the wall by my front door.

2. Destroyed the wind chimes I had hanging off the patio.

3. Damaged the electrical connection to my AC so that it no longer works.

Then, I go out with Matt for wings and the next day I’m suffering from a mild case of food poisoning.

TODAY, I go over to Mom’s to figure out who stole her ladder (turns out it wasn’t stolen) and why her car AC comes on by itself (turns out it’s set to come on when she uses the defroster) and see antifreeze gushing out of my SUV. This would be the same SUV I recently had overhauled to the tune of $1,800.

I know this isn’t just a coincidence. I know during the process of doing all the work they did something happened to cause this hose to leak. Problem is, how do I prove it?

Because I know they will say, “It’s a cracked hose and the repair bill is $300.”

I DID ask them to inspect the hoses, and that may be my saving grace.

But I wish things would settle down for a week or so.

I’m really tired of drama.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, Ello and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .