The Prophecy

“Some people are definitely screwed up from birth.” Ray was always surprised at the things people did when they thought no one was watching. Not only the things they did, but also the things they threw away. Mrs. Humphrey tossed an entire bed set last week because her boyfriend broke up with her, and the week before Mr. Bogart chucked all his old vinyl albums. Today though, the mystery was wrapped up in a person Ray had never seen on this street before. At first the man seemed to just be limping, but the stagger grew more pronounced as Ray moved closer, and he decided to make sure the man was okay and also introduce himself since this man was a potential customer.
“Hello, Sir, my name is Ray. I’m the garbage collector for this neighborhood, and I couldn’t help but notice that you were new here. Did you just move in recently?” Ray was a fan of small talk. In his experience, if he opened the conversation with something trivial, the person he was talking to would run with it and spill their life stories. Besides, it would have been rude to just ask why the man was walking so awkwardly.
“Hi. I’m Charles Glass. I just moved here from Africa actually so I am new in town. However, I’m pretty sure that you don’t care since you were staring at my legs for your entire walk over here. Don’t worry; you aren’t the first person to gawk at me. It’s a pretty interesting story actually.” Ray just kept on staring as Charles began his story.
“After I finished college I decided to travel, and since my parents were pretty rich, I actually could. First I went to Europe and Asia just like all the cool kids do, and then I decided to make it a world tour. Why not go to every continent? After all, very few people would get that chance and maybe it would be a good selling point when I started looking for a job. So off to Africa I went.”
“I was in a little village on the outskirts of the Sahara when I met Sabina. She didn’t say a word; she just walked right up, grabbed my hand, and led me away. Since there was no way she was a physical threat to me, I didn’t bother to fight her. It was fairly simple to keep up to her, even for those not accustomed to walking the terrain because she walked rather oddly. Every time she took a step her left foot landed three times before she picked up her right foot. Of course I was a bit curios, but as of yet she hadn’t shown any sign of wanting to talk so I kept following.”
“Eventually we came to this little hut or tent depending on how nice you wanted to be at the time, and she led me in. As we sat facing each other, I could tell that she was gearing up for something, and I was right. She told me the story of the prophecy. She said, ‘When civilizations were new and gods had power, a mortal girl called Cassandra was given the gift of sight by Apollo. She rejected his love and he cursed her to never be believed. My ancestor saw through this curse and followed on of Cassandra’s prophecies. Cassandra instructed her to take three steps with her left foot before each step with her right. She was then told to pass this down through each generation of the family, parent to child, and good fortune would follow them always. I am the first of my family that was given this trust who was unable to conceive. Because of this, I decided to enter a trance to summon the spirit of Cassandra and divine what she wished me to do. I was afraid that the luck of my family would end with me. Cassandra led me to you. She said my ancestor misunderstood the prophecy. The gift does not need to be passed through our family, but through the generations of the world. Each to carry the gift is to pass it on to one of their choosing who is a generation younger. My time has passed and now I pass this gift to you. As long as you carry it, fortune will follow. I caution to choose well in the passing for the bearer has great power for good or evil.’ And that was all she said before she unceremoniously pulled me out of her tent and proceeded to teach me how to walk correctly. Ever since then I wandered the world walking this way. I returned to Africa fifteen years later to seek out the woman and thank her for her gift, but when I reached her village I learned of her death very shortly after I had gone.”
“Now in the fifteen years I have carried this gift, many people have asked me about why I walk the way I do, and I have never found anyone to pass the gift to. This morning as I was slowly waking I had a dream. A beautiful young girl told me that I would meet the man to take the gift today, and I pretty sure that means you. Now you have heard the story, what do you think?”
Ray just stared at the man convinced that someone was playing a joke on him. Because there were only two other choices: either this man was literally crazy, or he was sane. Ray wasn’t sure what the more frightening option was really. But what hurt could there be in trying. He already collected other people’s garbage for a living, it’s not like his life could be less fun. “Sure, I’m in.”
“That’s good son. Now watch how I walk and follow me.” Ray mimicked the walk perfectly on the second try and saw that Charles was then walking normally. Suddenly he felt a bit dizzy, but it passed quickly and he put it down to low blood sugar. As he bid Charles goodbye and watched him walk away, suddenly walking very normally, Ray understood that his life would change. The only question would be, how?