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Jinx No More

A narrative by Nathanael Toussaint

Jinx twisted his wrists around, and tried to pull them apart. As he expected, attempts

to break free from his bounds were futile. Across the room, Napoleon and Bob had

already resigned to their captivity. With a final, desperate attempt to break the electrical

tape that bound him, Jinx followed suit and gave up. It seemed to him that his bad luckhad once again put him in trouble, along with those around him. Not surprisingly, his

nickname was Jinx after all.

Jinx and his friends had been out exploring in the forest near their village, when they

came across a marijuana plantation. Jinx did not like the idea of investigating the main

building in order to gather evidence, before reporting their findings to the police, but

Patrak, their de facto leader, had suggested it, so he went along with the idea. Of

course, once they were inside, Jinxs bad luck sprung into action.

The room they entered was filled with a scent that Jinx assumed was dried cannabis.

He didnt have any allergies, so he was surprised when he felt the desperate urge to

sneeze. He tried to suppress the urge, but it was futile. The sneeze came out like an

explosion, causing Napoleon to jump nearly to the ceiling. When he landed, Napoleon

lost his balance, and grabbed onto Bob for support. Bob was not capable of supporting

even a fraction of Napoleons weight, and as a result, Bob went flying onto a stack of

flowerpots, sending them crashing to the floor. The cacophony raised a large cloud of

dust, so dense that Jinx could hardly see the commotion that ensued.

A spilt second after Bob crashed to the floor along with the flowerpots; a huge

shadow appeared in the doorway. He could see Napoleons rotund figure make a

chaotic scramble for the corner, only to be held back by the long arms of the figure that

entered. The figure then grabbed Bob with its other hand and flung him in Jinxs

direction, sending the two boys toppling to the floor.

By the time Jinx managed to get up from the floor, the dust had settled, and

Napoleon was sitting in the opposite corner of the room with his hands bound behind his

back. Bob was lying facedown on the floor while a tall Indian-looking man used

electrical tape to tie his hands together. Patrak, it seemed, had managed to escape

through the only window in the room, during the commotion. It was obvious to Jinx that

it was futile to attempt escape. Calmly, Jinx sat down and put his hands out in front of

him, allowing the man to tape them together. Once he was done binding his captives,

the Indian had left the room, confident that the boys could not escape.

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Jinx leaned back against the wall. Why was it that he had such bad luck? He didnt

mind that he got himself into trouble, but the fact that others were always affected by his

misfortune was disheartening to him.

Two weeks ago, he made a resolution that he would not live up to his nickname

anymore. His sister Sabrinas high school prom had been only a day away, and she was

bursting with excitement. She had her eyes on a popular boy at school, and she wassure that her fabulous prom dress would get her noticed. Unfortunately for her, Jinxs

bad luck had caused him to trip, for no apparent reason, and he ended up bathing her

trump-card prom dress with Bello Cocoa tea. Jinx had apologized, but it didnt help any.

The dress was ruined, and Sabrina went to prom with a more dress that his aunt

managed to get for her. Prince Charming, hardly took notice of Sabrina that night, and

she spent the next week red-eyed from crying. The only atonement Jinx could come up

with was making a conscious decision to fight against his bad luck, although, it seems

he was unable to keep his resolution.

Jinx thought back at the past week. He had tried to counsel his sister about her loss,

asking her about the object of her infatuation, even though he had no interest in fairy-

tale romances. Prince Charming was popular, too popular. He flirted with every girl he

met, and, as Sabrina grudgingly revealed to Jinx, it was rumoured that he had two

girlfriends.

It occurred to Jinx that maybe his apparent bad luck had actually done well for his

sister. Maybe she would have had her heart broken by this playa, and his accident had

saved her from that pain. He allowed a smile to creep across his face; could it be that

his disability was actually a special ability in disguise? Jinx smiled confidently. He

would take control of his powers and change his misfortune into opportunity.

The world seemed to miraculously change to fit Jinxs new mentality. The moment he

decided to use his powers, Patrak came floating through the window

Sorry Im late, said Patrak. He took a penknife from his pocket and cut Jinx free.

Napoleon and Bob were freed moments later, and the boys tagged each other gleefully.

It seemed to Jinx that he really couldcontrol his fortune.

The boys were just about to climb through the window, when the Indian show up

again. Ah ha! Look I catch all u now! He exclaimed, as he grabbed the boys by the

shoulder.

The Indian shoved the boys towards the doorway. If all u tink all u goin and

escape on me, all u lie! He directed the boys through the doorway and into a hall

following closely behind them.

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The boys were directed into another hallway, near the end of which, there was a door

which opened into the yard. Jinx was the last in line, about a foot in front of their captor.

He saw that the door was open, and if they could make a dash for it, they would be into

the marijuana field that had led them to the building in the first place. The only problem,

Jinx concluded, was that the Indian was probably a lot quicker than they were, so,

unless they disabled him in some way, there was no way they would escape.A few feet ahead, Jinx saw an empty beer bottle lying in their path. He imagined that

if he had not taken control of his fortune, he would have tripped over that bottle and

caused the Indian to get angry and beat them.

At that moment, a brilliant idea came into Jinxs mind. If he timed himself properly, he

could pretend to trip over the bottle, and control his fall so that he would tackle the

Indian, giving them enough time to escape into the forest. It would be a great gamble,

considering his bad-luck affinity, but in his mind, Jinx considered his penchant for

misfortune an ability that could be directed at specific persons, possibly turning into

fortune for him.

Jinx held his breath. He was about to do the most heroic act in his life so far. He

stepped carefully towards the bottle and, in a quick motion, stepped over it, and did his

classic football slide-tackle, backwards.

The plan worked. Jinx managed to kick the Indian squarely on his ankle. The man

yelled in pain as he toppled to the ground, landing on top of the bottle with such force

that the bottle shattered. The other boys wasted no time dashing for the door. It was as

though they had all known that Jinx would tackle the Indian. They ran madly towards the

forest, and did not stop until they had reached the village and run right into the police

station.

At the station, things got exciting with a pace that fascinated Jinx. The Drug Squad

had come to the village upon hearing rumours that a local gang was dealing drugs. The

men listened intently to the boys surprisingly coordinated narration of their adventure,

and then made a determined dash to gather their equipment.

The commander of the Squad asked the boys to guide the group to the plantation, an

invitation they accepted enthusiastically.

Inside the camouflaged jeep of the Drug Squad, Jinx smiled excitedly. He had

overcome his bad luck. He was free to do all the exciting things that he once was afraid

to attempt. No longer would he live up to his nickname. He was Jinx, no more.