bitful

A bit of a long story, and one where I don't come appear to be particularly bright. Bear with me.

During the Christmas break 2002, the friend I shared a flat went to see his family in Ireland and came back a captured leprechaun in a can for me:

I only had a vague idea of what a leprechaun was, so I thanked him politely and read the instructions on the tin that said:

DIRECTIONS:

1. Close all windows in room and pull across curtain
2. Open can carefully keeping your eyes fixed firmly on his face (blink and he's gone)
3. Make him promise to behave (leprechauns must keep their word)
4. Extract secret location of crock of gold

GOOD LUCK!

I shook the can, it made no sound, it felt empty. I asked my friend if there really was a leprechaun inside, he replied 'Of course there is'. I was none the wiser, his answer may very well have been ironic. I decided that one day I was going to open the can in the dark and make a wish.

Five years later, the can was still unopened, and kept in a box out of sight! So the other day I took it to our windowless bathroom, closed the door, switched off the light, removed the plastic top from the can, unsealed it by pulling on the ring… and I felt something fluffy and fuzzy brushing at my hand:

I switched on the light. There actually was a leprechaun in the can:

And damn, I was so startled I forgot to make a wish. If it works retroactively, how about 'I wish I was not such a gullible git?'

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 8:31 pm and last modified on February 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am, and is filed under declutter, personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.