The Lucky Seven

THE LUCKY SEVEN

The old man sat by the lake day after day, watching the clouds gather and leave, the birds fly and land and fly again, the seasons come and the seasons go. Over the years, the people in the town had come to count on him. One by one the townspeople had stopped to talk and found the old man was wise and caring. When someone had a crisis that couldnt seem to be resolved the old man always knew the right path to take. "Go see 'The Old Man By The Lake' he'll help you!" they'd say. "The Old Man knows everything"

Young Jimmy would hear that and laugh out loud. "Yeah,that's it! Go see some mystical old man who sits all day watching nothing, doing nothing! Yeah, that'll help!" He'd cackle and jump in his van and speed off down the road. He had a show to do!

Jimmy was a musician without peer (at least he thought so)and he was always taking up this instrument and that, never mastering them but always getting good enough at them to play them at a gig somewhere. Learning the instruments filled his downtime, and Jimmy hated downtime. But he couldalways find something to keep his mind busy, and now that he'd started writing songs, he never had any downtime, or so it seemed.

As he sped along the road, he repeated the lyrics he'd written last nite "All that I need is the air that I breathe, and a little breakfast in bed in the morning" (He loved that line, so clever). "I will dance like a fool, wont be afraid to laugh. I'll make everything matter and believe everything lasts. I'll see love as a dream and I'll never wake up. And I'll change every day and I'll taste every drop"

Those were great lyrics, Jimmy knew. He just needed theright tune, a song that was worthy of them. He'd get it soon enough. "I LOVE LIFE!!" Jimmy shouted at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly a little girl ran out from behind a parked truck Jimmy was passing. His foot pounded down on the brakes, but the old van's brakes were worn and as Jimmy skidded, he hit the girl, hit her hard, so hard. She bounced like a rag doll and hit the ground. Jimmy threw the van in park and ran back towhere she lay. She was still breathing, but her eyes never opened when he picked her up in his arms and said "Little girl, little girl, are you okay?" Soon a crowd gathered, an ambulance came, the little girl was strapped to a gurney and the ambulance sped off to the hospital. Police told Jimmy that all the witnesses had said it wasnt his fault, he was free to go. Shaken, he got in his van and just thought for a second. Should he go to his show, or to the hospital? He hopped out of his van. He didnt know what hospital to go to, or even what her name was. Looking up, he saw the police pulling away. "Hey! I need to know her name!" Jimmy ran after them. "Hey, I need to know who she is!" But the squad car never stopped, and the taillights just got smaller.

And then Jimmy woke up.

In a cold sweat, he walked to his panelled bar and pouredhimself a stiff drink. "Burke!" he yelled. A butler appeared in the suite. "Bring the Rolls around, and call Janice and the pilot, tell 'em to get ready. I wanna go to Vegas....NOW!"

"@!#$e!" Jimmy exclaimed "I've got 40 gold records,moneyby the vaultful, beautiful women, my own jet and I cant find a flippin' shrink who can get this nightmare to stop! Two years of this crap! I'm gonna lose it if it doesnt stop soon"

So Jimmy went to Vegas and drank and partied and let people kiss his ass. It helped, but a little less than the time before. That was the pattern. And Jimmy wasnt stupid. He could see where that road led. But what could he do? It wasnt as if he'd ever really hit a little girl. But the dream, it was so vivid, so real. He could see her face so clearly, as if it was really happening every nite. Yet the best of the best in the psychological field couldnt help the famous Jimmy Tibbs put that nightmare to rest.

The crowd was packed into the arena. The lights came all the way down and then Jimmy broke into the song "Find me a crowd where the band plays loud, and my drunken ballet is in fashion" His band was considered the best in the business and as soon as they kicked in behind the lyric the crowd erupted. Jimmy soaked it all in. The song he had written all those years ago had become a huge hit, the first of many. Jimmy wrote the song, and he lived the words. "I LOVE LIFE!!" he shouted during the instrumental. Then he got up and did his famous "drunken ballet" that everyone came to see. "I could perform this in my sleep." he thought. The irony wasnt lost on him. "I can sing and dance in my sleep, but I cant sleep in my sleep! Ain't that a bitch!" The songs next line was ready to be sung "If I live till I die, baby, I'll never know why" The words stung Jimmy. "If I dont know why soon," Jimmy thought, "it might be too late"

Month after month, the nightmare continued.Jimmy tried to drown it in food,and booze, and women. But nothing worked anymore. Nothing.

And he knew now that nothing ever would.

Sitting in his mansion, Jimmy was starting to think the unthinkable....religion. The world's most famous hedonist turned into a holy roller! He laughed out loud at the thought, then cut the laugh short. He'd tried everything else. "Help me, God!" he shouted. It echoed around the empty mansion. "Help me!!"he shouted again. The echo sounded even emptier. "Oh well" he thought "it was worth a shot."

And the days rolled on, as they always do.

Then one night as Jimmy bounced around his mansion in the middle of the night, the power went out. And the rich rock star had to sit quietly in the dark just like the poor folks did. Jimmy didnt like downtime. He never had. But he had some now whether he liked it or not. As he sat in the darkness,his mind wandered back to his small hometown he had left behind so many years ago. "Jeez, I havent thought of thatlittle burg in years." Jimmy thought. As so he sat in the dark and he thought of his youth, of his school, and how he found music and then women, and the road. All the things he really loved. And he thought of his old van, and his old friends, and the old man by the lake, and the....wait a minute. "The Old Man By The Lake!" Jimmy exclaimed. "He solves everyones problems. That's what all those fools used to say. The Old Man By The Lake!" Just then the lights came back on."Oh....my...God!!!" Jimmy said. "Burke!" he yelled "Load up! We're going to Podunk to see the Old Man By The Lake!"

So thirty years after he left, Jimmy Tibbs returned to the lake by his hometown. He had Burke circle the lake, but he couldnt find the old man. Finally, he saw a woman walking her dog and she told him "You're too late, mister. They buried him yesterday." The woman and her dog continued on. Jimmy was numb. His hand trembled as he opened the limo door. "Stay here, Burke" he said. As he walked, his mind was racing. "The bastard sits there and helps everyone for 40 years, helps everyone who walks up to him. Now I finally need some help and he goes and dies before I can see him. Inconsiderate s.o.b.!" He got to the path that circled the lake. Being lefthanded, Jimmy naturally gravitated toward the left, when given a chance. But this time he chose the right path. "Looks like the lake is deeper over there, easier to drown in." he said. And this time he didnt laugh at his own joke, the way he usually did.

As he walked around the lake, his head spinning with thoughts, Jimmy heard the sounds of a couple, sobbing uncontrollably. The pain was so palpable, it shot right through him. He looked back at what happened next over and over again, for the rest of his life. It was as if he and someone else were talking together, their thoughts merged. "What is your problem? Tell me so that I can help"

The couple told Jimmy about their daughter. About her battle with leukemia. The doctors had told them there was no hope, but a friend had suggested they see The Old Man ByThe Lake as a last resort. "And now he's gone!!" the woman wailed. Jimmy took them to his car. He told Burke to take them to the hospital where the little girl was being treated. He didnt know what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do something.

When they arrived at the hospital, Jimmy followed the parents to her room. As soon as he walked through the doorway, he stopped dead in his tracks. The face of the little girl sleeping in the bed was one he had seen thousands of times, it was the little girl in his dreams. Jimmy sat in the chair bythe bed and took hold of the little girls hand. He closed his eyes and he started to pray, pray from his heart, from the deepest part of his heart. And unlike the half-hearted prayer attempts of his past, he never thought of asking God to help him. He asked God to help this little girl, and her family. He prayed, hour after hour, holding her hand until he finally fell into a deep, deep sleep.

As Jimmy slept, he dreamt his dream, as he always had. He drove in his van, and he sang his song, and he shouted "I LOVE LIFE!!" and before the last word completely left his throat, the little girl ran out from behind the truck,just like she always did. His van wouldnt stop. It never did. He heardthe "thud" he'd heard a thousand times. He saw the crowd that gathered, just like it always did. He held the little girls hand, and looked at her face, and tried to get her to open her eyes. But she didnt. She never did. And the ambulance came, and they strapped the unconcious little girl to the gurney, just like they always did. But this time, Jimmy wouldnt let go of her hand. He got in the ambulance with her, and heprayed, prayed from his heart, from the deepest part of his heart that the little girl would be alright.

And then Jimmy woke up.

He awoke, and looked at the small hand he was holding inhis. And he followed it up the arm to the shoulder and then looked at the face of the little girl, the face he'd looked at a thousand times before, and he smiled. And as he did, her eyes opened and as their eyes met, she smiled back at Jimmy.

No one knew who was funding all the hospices that began to spring up across the land. But they were a blessing to be sure, to all the families of the children with cancer who filled them. And no one knew who the old man was who came into each hospice from time to time and sat with the children,who held their hand and prayed for them and their families. And no one knew who the old man was who would sit by the pondthat was built by each of the hospices. But invariably people would come over to him and sit. And he would smile and ask"What is your problem? What can I do to help?"

And every day, as he sat by whatever pond he was by, he would say, very quietly "I love life"