Page 7 of With a Little Luck

But no, it couldn’t be a gift from my family. This dice must cost a hundred dollars or more, and my family doesn’t produce frivolous spenders. And yet it has to be a gift for me, right? Who else would be so excited to receive a dice like this?

I’ll ask around once Ari is done singing, I decide, dropping the dice into my pocket while I slide the Wings album back into its protective sleeve, and then into the jacket. I tilt my head to one side, squinting down18at the cover art. The temple I’ve drawn on the flyer sort of looks like one of the towers of the London Bridge that you can see in the background.

I set the album on the counter, where Ellie has changed her guitar-pick flower into the rough shape of a girl in a dress. At least, I think that’s what it is. Guitar-pick art is pretty abstract.

I grab the flyer where I was sketching out the temple for my upcoming campaign.

The Temple of … McCartney?

The Temple of … Sir Paul?

The Temple of … Wings?

My pencil thumps in time with the music. Then, an idea.

I write it down at the top of the flyer.

The Temple of London Town.

I stare at it for a second, then eraseLondon Townand replace it to read:

The Temple of Lundyn Toune.

It isn’t awful. At least, I haven’t managed to come up with anything better. But I don’t need to make the final decision. I can let fate decide.

I fish the fancy dice from my pocket, turning it in my fingers to let it catch the overhead lights. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I carried a dice around with me constantly, and would use it to help make decisions. It proved more effective than one would think. Can’t decide what to order off a menu? Roll the dice and pick the entree number it lands on. Don’t know which book on your TBR pile to read next? Roll the dice and count down that many books in the stack. Having trouble deciding just how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies you should order? Let the dice be your guide.

It takes a lot of anxiety out of decision making, is what I’m saying.

Onstage, Ari is finishing up the last chorus of the song. The crowd is into it. Mom is singing along, and a few other people join in.With a little love we could shake it up. Don’t you feel the comet exploding?

I rub my thumb over the crisp edges of the dice, deciding that anything above a ten will officially consecrate the new name of the temple. Less than that, and I’ll go back to the drawing board.19

I toss the dice as Ari sings the last line.With a little luck …

The dice rolls across my drawing, across the counter, and comes to a stop right on top of the album.

A golden twenty glimmers up at me.

“Hey,” I murmur. “Critical hit.”

Guess that confirms it.The Temple of Lundyn Touneit is.

The last chords from the guitar fade away, met with applause from the audience, as I grab the dice again.

“What’s that?” asks Ellie.

“A twenty-sided dice. I just found it.”

“Not that. This,” says Ellie, pointing at a piece of paper sticking out from theLondon Townrecord.

“No idea.” I grasp the corner of the page and pull it out, while onstage Ari takes the clipboard back from Pru and calls up the next performer.

I examine the paper in my hand. It’s a small poster with the same image as on the cover, including the London Bridge in the background.

With one notable difference.

It has a signature, scrawled in blue ink right beneath the album’s title. It’s messy, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say that was aP, and anM, and …

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