For St. Patrick's day this year I'm stuck yet again guarding the family's pot of gold. My name is Connor McSween. At sixteen, I am the youngest of the McSween family. Unlike my older sister, Mathilda, I am not greedy and pretentious. I don't insist upon wearing the newest pair of Lucky jeans or a platinum four leaf clover ring. I'm just an ordinary three foot two inch teenager.
I am due to be relieved soon, so when Mathilda appears through the hidden tree entrance, I start to get up.
"Oh sit back down you hopeless twerp," snaps Mathilda. "It's not like you have anything to do tonight."
For once, I actually did have plans. Plans that involved a pretty leprechaun named Tina.
"I'm hanging out with Tina," I argue.
Mathilda quickly counters, "Dad said you have to pull a double, so ha," and she hops back through the tree.
Another boring St. Patrick's Day. I thought us leprechauns were supposed to be lucky. While wallowing in my own sorrow, a noise snaps me out of it.
Then all of a sudden Tina appears through the trunk with a box of Lucky Charms. It's the luckiest day I've ever had.
Matt Hopkins, from Corona, CA, hasn't written anything since college, twelve years ago. He writes that, "I always enjoyed it, so why not start again. I'm rusty but I'll get better."
© 2008 Matt Hopkins. Original for CCF (Hopkins grants CCF first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).
Printer page
Email article
Top of Page
