Chance Would Be a Fine Thing

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

People always thought Chance was named after Peter Seller’s character in the movie Being There. He didn’t bother to correct them, but the truth was, his mother had named him for his grandmother’s favorite expression. He had heard the now Octogenarian woman use it hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

“Chance would be a fine thing,” Nana would say about any good thing she was hoping for. It wasn’t that she was negative and thought good things couldn’t happen. She just believed that if you talked like something would come true, you jinxed it. It was her good luck charm.

So, when Mom had conceived again after her third miscarriage, Nana had said, “Chance would be a fine thing” about the likelihood of her carrying the baby to term. Mom had vowed to herself that if she did, boy or girl, the baby would be named Chance.

Chance had never uttered his nana’s phrase, hating it and the name he had been saddled with. Today, as he watched the porter push his mother’s gurney toward the operating room, knowing she might not survive her heart surgery, he whispered the words under his breath, almost chanting them. “Chance would be a fine thing, Mama, that you come home to Dad and me.”

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I collect names to use in my stories. When I came across the name Chance, I thought of the old expression “Chance would be a fine thing.” I also remembered Chauncey Gardiner from Being There. These two things met and melded into this story. I hope you enjoyed it. Please share and comment.