Unlucky Charms by Linda O. Johnston Page B

and if someone you know is chasing you in the dream, it means they’re going to turn on you. And to run in your dream means there’ll be some kind of change in your life. Right?”
    â€œThat’s right,” Martha said sadly. “I’m going to have to stay even more alert now.”
    She looked at me as if for my affirmation. Or was she sizing me up as potentially being the person who’d turn on her?
    It hurt to think she might believe so. “We’ll all stay alert and keep an eye on you, Martha,” I told her.
    â€œWe sure will,” Justin said.
    Martha moved her smile between the two of us. “Thank you,” she said. “Both of you. For being here for me.”
    And then she turned and went back to work organizing things.
    Finally, with the police departed, we were ready to open the shop. But not to share what had happened, at least not much. Whether or not it would be bad luck for Destiny, I didn’t know, but I wanted people to talk about our wonderful, lucky pet items and buy them, not feel sorry for us or gossip about how awful things were here.
    I didn’t need any reminders of the nasty situation anyway—unless someone came up to me and confessed and returned what was missing. And then let me call Justin to come and pick them up.
    I almost laughed at the thought as I leashed Pluckie to the counter, to make sure she stayed inside as she should. Martha, who was finishing the organization of the good luck pet-related amulets in the nearby case, must have looked up and seen me smile.
    â€œWhat’s so funny?” she asked, not sounding at all amused.
    I needed to cheer her up, too, so I told her the nonsense I’d been thinking. “What if the thief were to come in here and apologize and return everything? Wouldn’t that be the good luck of Destiny?” I knocked on the wood along the counter’s frame to underscore what I’d said.
    Her aging face looked more youthful than I’d seen it that day. The stress had only added to her wrinkles—even now as she smiled, too.
    â€œWhat an imagination you have, Rory my dear.”
    â€œNot any more of one than anyone else in Destiny.”
    She held up her hand and we high-fived one another, both still smiling. Maybe things would improve that day.
    I certainly hoped so, and so I crossed my fingers as I double checked that Pluckie’s leash was securely attached to the counter before opening up the shop. Pluckie was always a good dog, and she was free to roam the store when we were closed, but not when we were open; even good dogs could get distracted by food or other animals, or something else of interest to them, and walk out the door.
    There was the usual horde of people outside on the sidewalk. Destiny Boulevard in particular seemed to attract crowds, even at this hour of the day. I glanced at the envelope I’d taped to the door under the sign instructing passersby to collect coupons to use later.
    All the coupons were gone, more than a couple dozen of them.
    A few people entered right away.
    â€œI’ll call Jeri now,” Martha said. “I think we’ll need some help pretty soon.”
    I nodded as I started showing the first customers to enter, a young couple with a golden retriever on a leash, some of the leashes and collars with shamrocks and other lucky symbols on them. Maybe our good luck was returning, since they bought a couple of each, one in yellow and the other in green. “We can dress her up more with these,” the man said.
    As they left, I went to help some people examining chew toys for the pups they’d left at home and saw that Martha was showing off some doggy clothing.
    I was surprised, as I was ringing up the first of these sales, to see Brad Nereida of the Wish-on-a-Star children’s shop across the street come in. He waved, and as he moved away from the door I was glad to see Jeri come in. She immediately came up to the