Paddy's Unlucky Adventure

     Since today was Illusen’s special day as well as his, Paddy figured it would be nice to pay her a visit first. She was always friendly and seemed happy to see him, despite being so busy. Plus, when he helped out with her errands, she often rewarded him with nice things she made. Today, though, Illusen didn’t seem quite herself when Paddy approached.

     “Hi, Illusen!” Paddy greeted her.

     “Paddy!” Illusen jumped, as though startled, even though Paddy visited her frequently. “What are you doing here?”

     “It’s your day, Illusen day, so I thought I would stop by, see if you had any plans. Or if you needed anything?” Paddy offered.

     Illusen thought for a moment. “Oh, yes… um, yeah… I could use some help getting… um, a jellybean tree!”

     “Okay, I’ll get on that and see you in a bit, then,” Paddy replied with a wave. He was a bit upset that Illusen forgot about his birthday. To be fair, she clearly had a lot going on, and the day was just as much hers as it was his. He was sure it was nothing personal, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. After checking in the Garden Centre to see if they had a jellybean tree in stock, Paddy headed over to ask the Shop Wizard. The magical Jubjub searched several areas of the market, but each and every time he came back to Paddy without having found anything. Perplexed, Paddy went to check the Trading Post instead. There was, indeed, a jellybean tree up for trade, but the owner was asking for a couple million neopoints for it! Illusen had never asked Paddy for such an expensive item before. Paddy definitely didn’t have that kind of money or any way to come up with such a sum. Even if he did, there’s no way he could get the item to Illusen in time. He knew Illusen would lose trust in him if he failed to get her item, but he didn’t have any other option now. He decided he would wait until tomorrow to go back to spare her the disappointment on today of all days.

     Paddy wasn’t about to let that one little hiccup in his plans bring him down. Up next on the agenda was a place he knew there would be good luck to be found: Pick Your Own on Meri Acres Farm. For one day a year, Meri Acres Farm is full of clovers. Some of them are just ordinary, run-of-the-mill three leaf clovers; others, however, are lucky clovers, such as the four leaf clover or the triply lucky twelve leaf clover!

     Upon arriving at the farm, Paddy handed some neopoints over to a farmer, who in turn handed him his punnet. Paddy then ran out to the fields to search for the lucky clovers. He scanned every visible bit of ground, and he searched every clover patch; three leaf clovers abounded everywhere. Despite his enormous effort, he did not manage to find a twelve leaf, or even just a four leaf, clover. Eventually, he had to give in and leave the farm with his handful of ordinary clovers.

     As he was gazing dolefully at one of his clovers, he noticed a couple of his friends walking nearby. “Cam, Tilly, hey!” he called to get their attention.

     They looked over and waved to him. “Oh hi, Paddy!”

     “What’re you up to? Wanna go grab some lunch?” Paddy suggested.

     “We already ate,” Tilly replied apologetically.

     “We have another engagement this afternoon, and we’re running a bit late,” Cam added. “Some other day, maybe?”

     “Yeah, I don’t want to keep you if you need to be elsewhere,” Paddy replied, as they turned to leave.

     Since he was already at Meri Acres with nothing better to do, he thought it would be nice to help out by counting some potatoes. He counted through two bags, but then some crazy Wocky came storming in. He just started throwing potatoes in every direction, not to mention sending other vegetables flying through the air. Paddy took this as a sign it was time to leave; he didn’t want to get a concussion or be troubled by nightmares involving potatoes.

     By the late afternoon, Paddy was feeling disheartened. He’d started the day with such high expectations and optimism, and nothing had gone as planned. He decided to go swing by Merifoods on his way back home; maybe he could find something special for dinner, so at least he wouldn’t have to worry about cooking tonight. He pushed open the door to the store and immediately spotted it: a green Draik egg! He’d been thinking about trying to find a roommate for a while, but he had never seen one stock before. Not to mention, with the day he had just been through, some company would be most welcome. Thinking his day was finally taking a turn for the better, he rushed across the store to the shopkeeper to make him an offer. Sadly, by the time Paddy finished speaking, someone else had already managed to get the Draik egg. All he could do was try to be satisfied with some bread and a small assortment of vegetables that remained on the shelves long enough for him to grab them. Then he slowly carried his groceries home, prepared for a lonely dinner.

     He turned the key in his front door and slouched into his dark living room. He fumbled with his bags of food, trying to get the lights for a few seconds. Then all of a sudden, he was struck by a wall of sound and light.

     “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” All of Paddy’s friends emerged from the shadows, and there was a cacophony of cheers and noisemakers. The normally bare living room tables had been filled with a mouth-watering assortment of snacks and appetizers. On the floor next to the tables were several prettily wrapped presents. After giving his eyes and mind some time to adjust to the brightness and surprise, Paddy sat down on one of his couches. Then Illusen came into the living room from the kitchen, carrying a beautifully decorated cake with lit candles on it. She set the cake down on the table in front of Paddy. After a rousing chorus of “Happy birthday,” Paddy made a wish and blew out the candles.

     Illusen started slicing the cake. As she handed Paddy the traditional first piece, she said, “Sorry about this morning. I didn’t actually need a jellybean tree. I just needed a way to keep you from coming back before I finished your cake, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to afford one.”

     “Well, this cake is worth having to go back to the simple tasks,” Paddy replied through a mouthful of cake. Illusen’s baked goods were always delicious.

     “Don’t worry about that; I still have faith in you.”

     Once everyone had received their serving of cake, they gathered around Paddy to give him his gifts and watch him open them. The first up was a bag from Cam with a note attached that read “So every day can be your lucky day.” Paddy pulled out the upper layer of tissue paper to reveal an entire bouquet of four-leaf clovers! Paddy stared in disbelief, looked at Cam, then back at the clovers. “It’s your lucky day,” Cam said with a smile.

     “I didn’t manage to find any at Meri Acres today,” Paddy said.

     Cam replied, “I could tell. You seemed pretty sad when we saw you sitting there looking at a three-leaf clover. I figured you deserved more luck for your birthday.”

     Once he reined in his delight at the first gift, Paddy looked at the small box that had been sitting right under it. The tag simply read “from Tilly.” He opened the box to find a twelve-leaf clover inside. Paddy was speechless.

     “I was trying to think of what I could give you for your birthday the past few days since you seem to already get everything you need. Then I found this today!” she explained, gesturing toward the extra lucky clover.

     Paddy managed to stammer a stunned “thank you” as some of the others present prompted him to sample the stunning array of finger food before him. They all wanted to ensure their contribution got tasted. Once Paddy was full from all the yummy treats, he noticed one last gift sitting under the table.

     Paddy reached for it, and his next door neighbour Kieran spoke up, “I hope you like it. I’m sorry if you don’t. I just wanted to get you something you didn’t already have, and as Tilly mentioned, that’s not easy. Today I saw this, though, and I thought it might be good…” At this point, Paddy pulled the last piece of wrapping paper off the gift.

     “OH MY GOSH!” Paddy screamed in excitement as he cradled the green Draik egg in his arms. “It was you… I saw it, and I tried… but I was too slow… but you… YOU GOT IT!”

     Kieran was a bit taken aback by Paddy’s excitement. “You had mentioned how you wanted to find a roommate. I’m glad you like it.”

     By the time Paddy’s friends were ready to head home, Kreludor was high in the sky, and the stars were shining brightly against the darkness. Paddy waved goodbye as they departed, a huge smile on his face thinking about the past few hours.

     As Paddy closed his eyes for the night, he thought to himself, “I was right. I knew it would be a great day.”

     The End.