Luck: Just Dropping In

"Hello there! Just dropping in," the small, black spider seemed to say, as it hung precariously from a silver thread right over my soup bowl on the table in Jessie's dining room. "Here to dine?"

"Oh, no!" I said to myself, as I jumped up very quickly and tried to grab it. "I got you!"

I was horrified as I realized that it must have spun its thread down from the old grayish-green chandelier hanging from the high ceiling.

"Who invited you to lunch anyhow, or are you just eavesdropping on our conversation?" I asked it silently. 

"Thank God that there is not any soup in my bowl yet!"

"Too late," the laughing spider seemed to reply as it scurried across the table. I watched it head directly underneath Jessie's place mat, over the edge of the ancient table, down the painted table leg and onto the wooden floor. Before I could even blink an eye, it disappeared through a huge crack in the floor. It turned around and peered at me.

"I don't think so!"

"Next time," I promised the spider. "You watch. I will catch you!"

Sitting back down quietly, I was relieved to see that Jessie had not heard me get up. She was not aware of the unexpected guest. I debated as to whether I should tell her about it after she finished praying, but decided against doing that. Being a gardener at heart, she probably would not have been upset by it anyhow.

Looking down at the table, I saw something small and black, right beside my place mat.

"Not again! I don't want any spiders for lunch today!" I said to myself. "I don't dine on spiders or with spiders!"

I was stunned. My first instinct was revulsion. I almost flicked it off the table with my thumb and third finger. I hesitated, as I realized that it hadn't moved.

"It is probably not a good idea to flick anything off the table," I told myself. "Guests do not do that!"

Instead, I reached over to pick it up.

"That is no spider!" I said to myself. "That's a diamond! Oh no, it looks like the stone from my wedding ring!"

I looked the ring on my fourth finger and sure enough, there was no diamond. As I had tried to grab the spider, the diamond must have fallen out of my ring and landed on the table right beside my place mat. I could barely believe my eyes.

"What is the likelihood of this happening?" I wondered. "One chance in a million?"

All of this happened in just a few seconds. My hostess remained oblivious to it. She still had her head bowed and eyes closed. I waited for her to finish praying. It seemed like she always took forever to pray, but I 

respected that.

Earlier that morning, I had called Jessie, my elderly neighbor, to see if she wanted to go out for the afternoon. She had graciously declined and instead, she had invited me to come for lunch.

"I have something that I want to show you," she said. "I will make lunch for you. How about coming over in about half an hour?"

"Are you sure?" I asked, knowing that she was not about to take no for an answer. I knew that Jessie was busy, as she had started re-painting the interior of her house, an old two storey, brick building, sitting on a couple of acres. It had obviously seen better days. Jessie had purchased it when she retired and decided that she could fix it by herself. She had already put in flower beds along the driveway, a couple more in front of the house and managed to dig a huge garden in the back yard.

Jessie was all of five feet tall, with pure white hair and bright blue eyes. It seemed that she was always ready to tell a good joke and her face beamed with a wonderful smile. She was stout, but always seemed to be fairly well dressed, usually in something that she just picked up at a garage sale, unless she was in her garden clothes. Then it did not matter what she wore or how many holes it had in it.

Jessie was a kind person, although quaint in her own way. She headed up the local horticultural society and was an avid church supporter. She had just started to lead a small women’s group.

Invariably, she would show up at my door with some new flowers that she had just discovered, or a meditation that had inspired her. How she loved to talk! We spent many hours together over cups of coffee, or lunch.

A little while later, I knocked at her door and as soon as she opened it, I got a whiff of fresh paint. There were stacks and stacks of papers, magazines and books that I had to wade through in order to get into her kitchen. Jessie was an avid read and had saved dozens of church and gardening magazines, over the years. I had never met anyone who had that many books. She was very well read and always searching for new ideas.

"Welcome to my humble abode," she said, as I entered. "I apologize for all the mess, but I have been kind of busy. Come and take a look at my living room."

"I see that," I replied, as we headed into the living room. "How are making out with everything?"

"Well, take a look," she replied.

I could hardly believe my eyes. In spite of the fact that the furniture had not been set back in place, the living room looked different with its new coat of fresh white paint.

"You should have come to my place for lunch instead," I replied. "It would have been a lot easier than having to make lunch for me."

"I have to eat anyhow and besides that, I wanted to show off my new paint job," she said, laughing. "If I am going to make lunch for one, I might as well make it for two."

"Wow! I am totally amazed!" I really was astounded. She was seventy years old, going on seventy-one. "That looks wonderful! You did a really good paint job!"

"I just finished it and I wanted you to be the first one to see it!" Jessie said proudly. She was always a person who thrived on a bit of extra attention. "Now I can have all of the ladies over for lunch. Let's go sit at the table." 

Jessie loved to entertain and she always did a wonderful job of it. In spite of all of the painting, Jessie had managed to set the table perfectly and to make a couple of lettuce and tomato sandwiches, one for herself and one for me. They were on small dinner plates, set beside the soup bowls, china teacups and saucers. Everything matched perfectly.

The small, square table always stood right beside the dining room window. Usually, Jessie had to wade through a pile of papers first, in order to find the table, but it appeared that she had just taken everything that normally would be on there, and plunked it on the old green couch beside the other wall.

"I brought you something!" I said, as I handed Jessie a fresh cut rose, from the new bush that my father had recently planted for me. "How do like it?"

It had been touch and go for a while, as to whether I was going to get any roses from it before spring, because it already was quite late in the fall. But with Jessie's expert advice, plus a little bit of tender, loving care, it had suddenly bloomed with a solitary, pale pink rose, that was perfect in every respect. I decided that it was the best gift that I could give her. I knew that she would love it and I was right. She was surprised and pleased.

"We did it!" she said, looking at the rose. "I didn't think that we would get any blossoms from that rose bush before spring. She held it close to her face and took a whiff of the scent. "It’s a sweet one too!"

She headed over to the cupboard to find a vase. "This is gorgeous! By the way, take a look at what is out there by the pond."

Two, huge geese were feeding in the tall grass. Jessie placed the vase in the center of the table, as she sat down. "That rose is just what we needed!"

"Let's pray. You want to say grace?" Jessie asked. I nodded my head and quietly said a short prayer. I opened my eyes. Jessie was still praying silently, so I waited patiently for her to finish her long prayer list. I really was not in any hurry.

It was at that moment the spider decided to descend to the table. I realized that it had probably been in the living room, and must have fled because of the smell of fresh paint.

A few moments later, Jessie opened her eyes and took a deep breath, stood up and said, "Oh my goodness! That reminds me. I have to get our tomato soup."

To make a long story short, I never did tell Jessie about the spider. I did show her my ring with the missing diamond, an hour or so later, as we finished our lunch. She promptly took one of her unused, collection envelopes and handed it to me.

"My goodness, I am so glad that you found it," she exclaimed. "Better put it in here for the time being, until you get a chance to go to the jewelers."

Later on that day, when I stopped to think about what had happened I could hardly believe the events of the day. I decided that the best thing that could have happened was that spider dropping in, just when it did.

Now was that luck or the power of prayer?