Page 76 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams

Column March 25, 2007

MISS ANNIE’S LUCKY ‘CHAIN LETTER’

This is the story of one of my childhood neighbors, Mrs. Annie
Kinney, and how a chain letter touched her life— and mine.

“Miss Annie” had had a hard life. She had lost two husbands
and a son, and she barely eked out a living on her meager
social security income. Still, she was always friendly, kind,
and optim istic, as if she didn’t have a worry in the world.

Miss Annie was also superstitious. She avoided black cats,
would not walk under ladders, hated the number 13, and
regularly carried both a rabbit’s foot and a four-leaf clover in
her purse. So, with all that, naturally it was easy for her to
believe in the power of chain letters.

Thus, it happened one fine day that the postman brought her
a chain letter. It had the usual good news-bad news message.
“ If you will hand copy this letter 10 times and mail it to 10 of
your friends within ONE WEEK, good things will happen to
you. But if you break the chain, you will have one year of bad
luck.”

Seeing an opportunity to bring some good fortune to her life,
Miss Annie dutifully copied the letter, addressed and stamped
the envelopes, and asked me to mail the letters at the post
office on my way to school the next day.

Then Miss Annie just sat back and confidently waited for the
good things to start happening--and in a few days, they did!

First, she got a slight increase in her social security check.
Then, without any prior notice, her rent was lowered.

Right after that she won a big box of groceries at a drawing
at the Grand Theater. Then a serious leak in her kitchen
plumbing seemed to magically repair itself.

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