Fate

By Timothy Lantz

"Bored, bored, bored" stated Beauty. "If I have to spend another minute in this cave with you two, I'm gonna cut my own thread."

"Quiet child!" yelled Crone. "The cutting of thread is not something to be taken lightly."

"Still, the child has a point sister," replied Maturity. "Perhaps it is time we took up the scissors."

Wasting no time Beauty quickly grabbed the golden scissors from the table and headed for the web.

"Wait child!" shouted Crone. "There are rules. One can not simply go about cutting without following the rules."

Beauty frowned, "Here we go again."

"Patience sister," remarked Maturity. "In your haste to cut you would miss out on the details and then where would you be?"

"I'll tell you where," answered Crone. "Sitting there, annoying us with how bored she is!"

"Okay, okay, if we have to follow the stupid rules, at least let me pick."

Crone and Maturity each glanced at the other until finally Crone shrugged. "Very well sister, but take care, the choosing is the most important part. Pick a good one."

Beauty stepped back to examine the web. Her eyes darting quickly from one corner to the other until at last she could not contain herself. She rushed toward the web singling out a particular strand which seemed to glow as she neared. At her touch the thread began to sing.

The other sisters soon joined her; each placing a single finger upon the thread.

"Go on sister, you tell it. My vision ain't what it used to be and this one,"remarked Crone as she glanced at Beauty, " is way too impatient to tell it right."

"All right then," began Maturity.....



Iris was driving down the street when she heard the fateful sound of dread. The thump, thump, thump could only mean one thing.

She pulled over along the side of the road and slowly got out of the car. Brushing her long red hair out her eyes she could see that her worst fears had come true. She had a flat tire.

With a sigh, she quickly resigned herself to the fact the she was going to have to change the tire and proceeded to open the trunk. As luck would have it, or at least her luck anyway, there was no spare.

Nothing to do now but call for help. She got back in the car and reached for the cell phone. As her finger hit the power button it became all to clear that today was just not going to be her day. The phone was dead. She had forgotten to recharge it.

Placing the phone back inside her bag, she got out of the car and took a look around.

Across the street was a small townhouse. There was a black car in the driveway so at least maybe there was a chance someone might be there.

Gathering her stuff she started walking over to the house. Her breath quickened a little and she felt nervous. It's one thing to have to rely on a strange mechanic, but now she had to trust in the generosity of a second stranger. Hopefully, he would let her use his phone.

As her finger pressed against the cool plastic of the doorbell, her head suddenly filled with a strange thought. What if the man who answered this door was the one. Could it be that the reason fate had put her here was to meet this man?

She could hear the sound of movement on the other side of the door. Then, slowly the door began to open.

SNIP

Beauty giggled.

"Damn it child!" swore Crone. "Always when we get to the good part."