Luck?
The Hero
Let's start with the idea of signalling. You cannot know everything about everyone. So, you have to make judgments and put people into categories. You judge who they are and what they do by what you see. A suit? The man in question is a businessman. Hard hat and high visibility vest? Construction worker. Kid with ratty clothes and distrust of Police? Thief.
Everyone "knows" that kids in poor neighbourhoods only have poor-quality stuff, that's all they can afford. If they have something good or expensive, then it is the proceeds of crime. There is no possibility that they worked hard, made sacrifices, saved up and bought it. Better arrest, hassle, and generally make their life hell for being a thief. Except now, the signalling had changed, at least in part.
Most Cops had discussions around the water cooler about Poorer kids getting Star Wars toys for Christmas. The consensus was If the Kid had an expensive Star Wars thing, then most likely Radar had taken a chance on the Kid, and as long as the Kid was not causing trouble, the Kid was to be left alone. If the Kid had an expensive toy that was not from Lucasfilm, well, then it was business as usual for the little thief.
The slight change in attitude and looking for Star Wars merchandise had further effects. A ratty kid standing outside a store looking nervous? Probably a thief casing the place. Chase him off. Whatever he says is lies. He is either a criminal or will be soon, your gut says so. There is no way he was trying to get the courage to get a job there. Chase him off if you see him around again. Darn Lowlifes were sponging off good, honest Americans. There are jobs out there. Why doesn't he go and get an honest one?
A ratty kid Standing outside a store in a Luke Skywalker shirt looking nervous? Probably the best shirt the Kid owns. Go over and see why he is nervous—asking for a job? Give the Kid a pep talk and talk to the manager to see if any positions are available. Vouch for the Kid too. You got a Good Feeling about this one. Keep an eye out for him as he comes and goes from his new job and make sure no Lowlifes are ruining what could be the Kid's one chance out of poverty. Kid deserves to follow the American dream as best he can; besides, he has a good taste in movies.
Why might the Kid decide the shirt is Lucky? The Cop listened to him and helped him. That never happens to Poor kids. So he must have picked up something lucky like a four leaf clover. But the only thing new was the shirt. The shirt is worn by a kid with more confidence, one that dares to smile at cops on the way to his new job and the cops nod back and don't bother him. It's like he is living in an alternat universe while wearing his lucky shirt.
As far as the officer is concerned, nothing has changed. Just as he has in the past, the officer has gone with his gut and, from his point of view, once again been proven right. On past occasions, the ratty-looking kids he had figured where pretending to look for a job had been caught stealing from the shops later. The one in the Lucasfilm Shirt he had a good feeling about? He has gone on to be a good worker and even give him a grin when he the kid running errands and doing deliveries. Cheeky brat but proves the officer was right about him and so was Radar. The kids with Lucasfilm toys and shirt are probably alright so he don't have to look too hard into what hey are doing. Better spend his time ensuring the real lowlifes, the ones stealing stuff like that Disney shirt, are not causing trouble.
The Villain.
Consider the power of stories whispered amongst kids. With a few Police on their side, stories about Police Helping against the Rich, Particularly if you had your Lucky Star Wars toy, went from unbelievable to possible but unlikely and all the more treasured because of it.
A rich white woman from an expensive Church had taken and broken a kid's Darth Vader toy while yelling that the Kid would go to hell for stealing, or so the story went. A cop had seen it, and rather than taking her side like they always did, the Cop stood up for the Kid and even arrested her when she spat on him.
When the Lady went to Court, she brought her rich friends and an expensive lawyer to get her out of trouble. The Cop Brought a Clever Lawyer who had been to Vietnam and made the Rich Lady and the Expensive Lawyer look stupid. The Cop's lawyer told the Judge that the Goose had been giving out Star Wars toys like the one the Lady had wrecked, so if she was smart and charitable, she should have known about it and left the Kid alone. When the Expensive Lawyer tried to make the Lady look like she was still justified because the Kid was poor and living on handouts, the Cops Lawyer proved that the Kid had saved up to buy the Darth Vader toy with his own money and had been doing jobs to afford it. The Judge made the Lady replace the toy and ensured her church knew about the whole thing. The Pastor came down and gave the Kid more toys and apologized to the kid fr having a rotten lady in his congregation. The Lady had been kicked out of the church and lost all her friends.
A kid who just had a cop vouch for him, who had just got a job and their first paycheck safely home who then heard such a story might wonder if all the Star Wars stuff was lucky.
The Smuggler
There is no such thing as luck. His number had come up and off he went to do his duty. When he came back America had seemed to be trying hard to forget him. While he won't forget his oaths entirely, he might decide that some Americans are less deserving of certain things than others, especially if they spit on a serviceman's efforts to keep them safe and free from the Godless Communists. So it would be easy to see how Violence might attract a man. Well, it was that or crawl into a bottle and end up on the street.
But just because you were on the outs didn't mean you ignored what was happening or that some tried. Radar going to bat for veterans like yourself again and again was noticed and appreciated. It helped to know that someone was trying. Not enough to change your lifestyle, but maybe just change your perceptions a little. You might find yourself thinking when you get the order to make an example of a series of shops not paying protection money, you might decide to burn down the one without the Star Wars Poster in the window. Its not favouritism, its basic sense. Star Wars stuff is valuable and if you want a cut of those sales, they need stock to sell. You kill off the sickest to motivate the rest, not the best performers. Everyone knows that Radars latest movie is making Bank moving toys.
There was that story of the Wiseguy who indirectly messed with Radar, who burnt down the movie theatre just before it started showing Star Wars because the owner was a little late with the protection money. Sure, the owner swore that he would make good as soon as he started showing Star Wars but the Wiseguy who was collecting didn't want to wait. Well, seeing how the owner had pointedly sent a letter to the boss showing him how much money he could have made since the other theatres were doing it good and letting him know that he wasn't rebuilding and leaving for good well that particular Wiseguy might be wearing some Star Wars themed Cement Shoes soon. Almost as if messing with Star Wars was unlucky or something
When you move Drugs and other things across state lines, you follow the same logic. No superstition involved here. Star Wars toys are the most valuable intact. Damaging the packaging of plastic toys to hide a brick of Cocaine is a bad idea. Much easier to put it in a plush Mickey Mouse, where a little stitching after will make the Mouse as good as new. Besides, Star Wars stuff catches attention and never fails to get a comment from whoever is doing the checking even if it is innocent. Worse is when kids who don't understand how dangerous it is for them to show the wrong sort of interest go poking in the wrong place or worse find something. It's better for the kids not to be tempted in the first place so he hides it all in the Disney Stuff. Nobody liked the Disney stuff since Walt died, right? Besides, it felt Wrong to use Radar's latest movie to do something illicit.
Of course, with Radars latest charity work over Christmas there was now another big problem if somebody found drugs in the Star Wars toys. The headlines practically wrote themselves. Drugs found in a stolen shipment of Lucasfilm Charity Toys. Criminals Steal from Orphans and Poor. Children's toys Poisoned with Illicit Drugs. It's just the kind of thing to Encourage juries to push for quick Guilty Verdicts and the Harshest punishments possible.
Joe down at the bar had a tale to tell, about the driver who swore that a Cop who served with him in Vietnam had pulled them over. The cop had seen how all the stuff was in the Disney or Universal toys and none of it in the Lucasfilm stuff and the driver had gotten a nod from the cop. While the driver still got arrested somehow the evidence ended up unusable, so the driver got off with a slap on the wrist. Lucky or not Radar's stuff would not have Drugs in it and if there was a Han Solo figure on the truck dashboard who was going to comment.
The Princess
An had decided she liked America. She wasn't old enough to remember Vietnam from before the war. After the Communists came it was hard, and she was always hungry. That's why Ba worked so hard to get them out of Vietnam. Things were very bad, and there was going to be a scary boat ride that cost a lot of gold before Mister Bruce gave a lot of his Money and made the other Americans take them on a nice plane. An wasn't sure about Mr Bruce. She had seen him in movies and on tv. He looked nicer when he was pretending to be Mr Radar than when he was pretending to be Mr Han in the new movie. An preferredd his wife, Mrs Carrie, who looked pretty in the movie. An wanted to be pretty like her when she grew up. An even had a Princess Leia Doll that she carried with her everywhere, even when Ba Took her out with him while he ran the food cart. They hadn't had a food cart in Vietnam just a small stall but Mr Bruce had arranged for Ba to have a small amount of Money to start a Business when they had got to America and Ba had made the most of it.
Some funny things happened here in America. Things that made her Ba make weird faces and An giggle when she wasn't supposed to. There was an important policeman with blue eyes and blond hair who kept adding too many G when he said the word Negro. An didn't Speak English that well yet, but she found it funny that the policeman always got the word wrong. An didn't see what the problem was with the people with the really dark skin and the really white teeth but the policeman didn't seem to like them much.
The policeman had come to the food cart not long after Ba had Started selling things, before business was good. When Ba had went to bribe him like you did with all the Police back in Vietnam the policeman acted insulted and Gave Ba back twice as much Money. The policeman said that Ba didn't need to Do that because Mr Bruce had arranged for them to come to America and he knew that Ba would work hard and bring up good Americans unlike some People. An didn't Know who the "some people" were but said she would work hard and the important policeman looked happy.
The important policeman said that he had to make sure people knew that Ba was here honestly so when Ba kept having trouble with English trying to explain it to customers the policeman put a big sticker that said Lucasfilm on their cart. He also carved a number for a telephone at the back of the cart where only Ba could see and told Ba a name to ask for if anyone gave Ba any trouble. So far Ba had only called the number twice. Once to get help with some permits and once to arrange for An to go to school. The important Policeman had also said that he would help Ba join a Veterans Association. Apparently Ba and the Policeman had fought in Vietnam together.
An liked the Lucasfilm Sticker as it seemed to make lots of people come to their cart and buy food. One of the funniest was a Silly Lady who kept muttering about "those gossiping shrews from church who turned their back on a good friend who made an honest mistake." She had seemed mean until the Important Policeman came and explained to her that Mr Bruce had arranged for An and Ba to be in America. She looked thoughtful for a bit and then had apologised to Ba. She still said silly things that An had to be careful not to laugh at but she was a lot nicer.
When the Silly Lady had gone The Important policeman had also said he had a daughter her age called Anne who also had a Princess doll. The important policeman was going to bring Anne and they could play together while Ba ran the food cart. The Important Policeman said that it would prove to anyone that Mr Bruce's judgment was right and that Ba made the best Banh Mi. An didn't understand what the big deal was. She could have told anyone that Ba made the best Banh Mi.
The only thing she really didn't like was those three Man that seemed to start watching the cart and went missing when the Important Policeman came by. But it was only three people out of thousands and she had received more and worse looks back in Vietnam. An felt she had been very lucky since she got her Princess Leia doll and came to America.
The Old Man
Some people come back from wars Wrong. Some parts of them still fighting battles in their head years and decades after the guns fell silent, still taking to squad mantes who had marched on. Drink and Drugs had helped quieten the voices but sometimes you had to yell at the Ghosts or punch them to get them to leave you alone for a bit. Holding a job was hard with a head like that, even if your body didn't have holes in it. Nobody wanted a yelling madman for a neighbour, and places evicted you as fast as you found them. An alley was about the best you could hope for.
He took another Swig from his bottle
Radar, his old Squamate had tried to help, running Charities and shaming the politicians to do their jobs. He remembered Radar… sometimes. It got all mixed up in his head. Radar wasn't always around ,busy going on classified missions and going into space to fight the Communist Darth Vader. That was why Radar was pretending to be Bruce these days. Too many Classified missions and too many secrets. But Radar never forgot where he was from. Yes they lost the war to the communist menace when they should have won it but that was not Radars fault. He had tried harder than anyone. Did you think it was easy to be a part of the dog team when your dog was taller than you, walked on two legs, and you had only met it the day before. At least the dog was a good shot with that lazer crossbow of his. Where you there? No? So you should be Quiet and just be happy Radar did his bit for the country.
Another Swig from his Bottle
America had failed in Vietnam. No question there. The communist banner flies above Saigon, not Ho Chi Min, not whatever those Commie monsters said. Still Radar had made lots of Money in Hollywood making movies about some of his Missons and then using the Money to restore Americas Honor. Sure they didn't stop the communists taking Vietnam but they could take the people from the communist and Radar had done that. Radar had put his Money on the table and made the Politicians do the same. And then he had gotten the Former Vietnamese businesses and started tuning them into proper Americans. Proper Americans who should be safe in America. He was watching a Street seller with a Cute little daughter now and the three Guys watching her.
Another swig from the bottle Getting empty now
The Captain had tried his best. He was busy being a Policeman these days with his fancy braid and his own cute Daughter. But the Captain didn't understand. He didn't see how three of Jones's Goons looked at little An, didn't hear how they whispered that they would do things to her, things that he had killed people for, some of them on the American side for, back in Vietnam. The Captain didn't see how Charlie Jones ignored Radars saying that these Vietnamese were now Americans. But Jones never would understand. Charlie Jones only understood Money. Charlie Jones had that Guy with the fake British Accent, that Bookie with the pinched Face Rig a Casino that Sent the Poor Home with even less than they stated for a false hope. And when his Customers couldn't Pay Charlie Jones had their legs Broken and then disappeared when the still couldn't pay. How could anyone work a job to pay off Charlie Jones with broken legs.
He had heard a roumour. someone said Charlie Jones had decided that he had enough of Captain, had enough of a street seller who thought that because the Police liked him he didn't have to pay protection. Charlie Jones had let it be known that Little An and the Captains Daughter Annie where going to have a bad day tomorrow.
The bottle he was holding hit the wall hard. Thrown in a fit of rage. He found himself trembling, wanting to go to do something, to drink something and make the Voices vanish but little An would need him to be able to think.
So he went for a walk to an old warm theatre with a loose door that would pop just enough to open if you leaned on it right. And so he did. He wandered up, sat at the back of the theatre, and saw the Radars Star Wars movie again. When he went to sit down, he found something hard in the seat, so he picked it up and then made himself comfortable. He watched the movie and wondered at the certainty and peace of the Japanese Looking guy when he died at Vader's Blade. Wandering outside again, he looked at the hard thing he had picked up in the seat. An action figurine of the old guy.
A flapping noise in the background and he turned to see a flag moving. Words from an old oath he once held tightly, similar to a commitment that An's father would have made more recently
… all enemies, both foreign and domestic…
An and her father had come here to be Americans, to a better life. Didn't Liberty Herself demand something...
… Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me…
He found his hand clenching over the action figure Again.
… all enemies, both foreign and domestic…
Something snapped. The sharp edges of the plastic dug into his hand. Pain sharpened his senses to a clarity he didn't know he still was capable of. Charlie Jones was an enemy. A domestic one. He had fought and killed foreign enemies and left the best part of his mind over in Vietnam so Children like An and Annie could live in the future Radar was making happen. No Bruce O' Brian made happen. Why shouldn't he do the same to Charlie Jones what he had done to Charlie over in Vietnam. The issue was if he offed Charlie Jones in the middle of the club he frequented, the Girls would be safe but he might not make it out alive.
He looked down at the Action figure. That Japanese guy playing Kenobi sure seemed satisfied with his death in the movie. Dying so a Younger generation had a chance at a brighter future. A future that wouldn't exist if Charlie Jones got his way tomorrow which meant that Charlie had to be dealt with Tonight.
… all enemies both foreign and domestic…
God, he wanted a drink. He shook himself. Finding a Drink was a problem for after Charlie, the last target in His war had been dealt with. His war to Protect and save the Vietnamese, to Save his fellow Americans new as they may be. He had always known that not making it back alive was a possibility but he had sworn an Oath and had a Duty. Time go and do it again.
A homeless Man walked off onto the night accompanied by an action figure, both death and freedom in his future.
Tomorrow a boy would make a delivery from a store to a foodcart, confident that as long as he had his lucky Luke shirt, the Police wouldn't bother him unless he did something really bad and help him get his pay home safe. He could save up for a Star Wars backpack and lunchbox and not have his schoolwork ruined or be hungry in class. He felt Lucky
Tomorrow A Police Officer would comment to a new recruit at a murder scene that it was fairly easy to tell the good ones from the bad ones around here, the good ones like the Lucasfilm stuff and the bad ones don't. And yes, that was my mother-in-law stealing Lucasfilm charity donations out of a kids hand. Of course, I had to arrest her, she was breaking the law. Yes, it makes reunions very Awkward. Aint I lucky
Tomorrow an autopsy of a vet would find pieces of an Obi Wan Kenobi toy that stopped several bullets and potentially allowed the Soldier to live slightly longer than he would have otherwise and allowing him to finish a mission that he might have otherwise failed. Evidence found investigating his death and the death of Charlie Jones would lead to the near total roll up of a criminal organisation or at least the members that had survived. Lucky he had that toy in his pocket or he wouldn't have made it as far as he did.
Tomorrow one of the unlamented Charlie Jones smuggling drivers would be out of the state and somehow escape being rolled up in the ensuing investigation. He wondered how lucky he was and if a change in career would be in order.
Tomorrow two children would play together safely and uneventfully under the watchful eye of a Vietnamese street food vendor. The girls would stay together longer than intended as one of the fathers had been called to run a crime scene that would take all day to resolve. Playing with Princess Leia dolls beneath a Lucasfilm sticker the first stages of a lifelong friendship where formed. Both girls felt rather lucky.
An
We sure get some lucky rolls don't we. Wonder how that changes the world.
I am not an American nor a veteran of the armed forces or an expert on mental health. If any of this causes offense the please POLITELY inform me and I will remove the above post. No offense is intended.
Thanks to
@Magoose for running a fun quest and
@Duke William of for starting it and You for reading.
