That Thursday, the seventeenth of March, was the day that changed Conor’s life forever.
It was St. Patrick’s day, and it seemed the entire world was outside celebrating it. The streets were flooded with people dressed in the most colorful attires as they danced and sang. The majority of the colors on the streets were green, but they had different shades like dark green, lemon green, and the like.
It was easy to see that everyone was having the time of their lives.
As for Conor, he did not mind at all. He was grateful for this day because it was a public holiday and therefore he did not have to turn in for work. His plan had been to sleep in, spend the entire day just eating and sleeping so that he would be in sound mind by the time work resumed tomorrow. But hearing all the laughter and festivities going on outside, he could not afford to miss it.
That was how he had come out, walking along the crowded streets with his girlfriend. The sun also seemed to be celebrating because it was scorching down on earth with abandon. To avoid the heat, he walked close to the buildings, keeping the shadows.
“We can’t keep staying on the sidelines, Conor.” Claudia, his girlfriend said after they had walked aimlessly for a while, just drinking in the sights and smiling at random people. “The fun is out there, why are we missing it?”
“This sun is too hot, babe. I do not think I can stand in it for a minute without fainting.”
“Well, that is where the fun is.” She complained, “if you will keep being such a killjoy I will leave you and go. This is a festival and we are supposed to be festive.”
He rolled his eyes at that, “fine. At least let us get face caps, for some protection okay?”
“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes as well. “You can be such a big baby.”
They turned into an alley, the ground was arranged with interlocking blocks, there was only one stall that was open and it was displaying caps for sale. As the couple approached the stall, the noise of the festival and parade faded a little into the background. Claudia’s hand was hooked around Conor’s elbow as they closed in on the shop.
Then he stopped all of a sudden.
She stopped as well, looking at him, “what is it?”
She followed his eyes towards the wall by the side of the alley, there at the bottom of the wall was a black pot. She looked at it for a second, wondering what had him so engrossed in it.
“Baby, that is just a pot.”
“Yeah, but on St. Patrick’s day? Hell no! I bet you that is the pot of gold.”
“What?” She was genuinely shocked, “how old are you? Five? You do know that the story of the pot of gold is just… a story, right?”
“I do not know for sure, and honestly, neither do you. What if that pot is full of gold? I won’t have to go to work tomorrow or ever.”
She let out an exasperated breath, “I can’t believe this. What if it is just a prank?”
“I am checking it out anyway.”
He gently unhooked his hand from hers and walked toward the pot. It looked ordinary, but it was so black he could see his reflection on the body as he approached it. It was covered, so he had to open it.
“Babe…” Claudia called him, she was not liking the looks of this at all.
He gave her the peace sign, and then with a wink, he bent down and pulled the cover. He froze for about ten seconds as he stared into the bowels of the pot. Then without a word, he replaced the cover and carried it.
“Stop!” Someone cried, emerging from the stall. He was a young man that looked no older than twenty-five; he was laughing hard as he held his phone before him, the camera pointed at Conor. He was dressed in a shamrock and wore the mask of a leprechaun. “It is a prank! I am so getting a million views for this!!!”
Claudia finally let out a deep breath, even laughing at her boyfriend. But he was not laughing at all; he held the pot tighter to himself.
“I am sorry, it was a prank. You can drop the pot now.” The young man said, there was still laughter in his voice and he was still making a video.
Conor spared him a glance and turned to walk away with the pot.
“Hey bro, that is not cool. There is nothing in the pot anyway, just drop it, okay?” The young man grabbed at him. “I will need it for my other videos.”
“Don’t touch me, or I will punch you in the face.”
Claudia was no longer laughing, she hurried to her boyfriend, “babe, just leave it for him. We can get the cap somewhere else.”
“What?” He looked at her with an incredulous look, “hell no!”
Then he opened the pot and showed it to her, when she looked inside, she was almost blinded by the radiation of the gold that filled it up. There was a heavy heap of gold coins inside the pot. The young man peeped and saw all the gold.
“What the…” he gasped in shock, almost dropping his phone.
“Hold on, you didn’t know about the gold?” Claudia asked him.
“Baby, that is none of our business. We are leaving now!” Conor told her.
“But…” Claudia was flabbergasted as he covered the pot once more, the man was standing stock still as if he had no idea what was going on.
“He got his prank video; I got my pot of gold. I really hope he gets his views and I will definitely quit my job the minute I get home. Everybody is happy, baby.”
He did not wait; he simply took her by the hand and began to pull her back to the major road where they will mix up with the festival.
Claudia cast one look at the stunned young man, who had no idea he had been sitting on a pot of gold all day.
As they vanished into the crowd, she really hoped he got his one million views.
The End.
It has been a while I made a post in this beautiful community and seeing this contest, I decided to jump on it. I am really happy to be back here, and I will try to be regular in my stories like before😊.
Thank you for reading.