Once upon a time, there was a boy named Bo.
Bo was walking home from school one day when something caught his eye, as he noticed a glint of green in the grass by the sidewalk.
He bent down to look closer and as he did, He gasped.
It was a four-leaf clover.
He had always heard stories and legends about four-leaf clovers and how they were extremely rare and hard to find.
And better yet, they were supposed to bring good luck.
Of course, he figured that luck stuff was probably just a tale that didn't mean much.
But even so, there was no denying that four-leaf clovers were very hard to find.
He and his friends used to hunt for hours at recess trying to find one.
He couldn't believe he actually found this.
So Boa knelt down and gently picked it from the ground and held it up to the sunlight.
And it almost seemed like it was shimmering just a little.
He smiled and tucked it into his backpack like the treasure he knew it was.
That night he set it on his nightstand so he could look at it while he fell asleep.
Maybe it'll bring me some good luck tomorrow, he whispered to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
But the next morning, the clover was gone.
Bo rubbed his eyes and searched the floor under his bed, even in his shoes, but there was nothing.
He asked his sister if she'd seen it.
She just rolled her eyes and said, Excuse me?
What would I want with your weird leaf?
Bo's mom asked, Did you put it in a book or something?
And his dad just mumbled something about cereal and wandered back to the kitchen.
Bo was about to give up when he noticed something strange on the floor.
They looked like tiny, muddy little footprints.
And the footprint was no bigger than his little pinky toe.
It was really small.
So he followed them from his nightstand across his room, down the hallway and all the way back to the door of his house.
And he ran to the window and looked outside, and that's when he saw it.
He saw what looked like a tiny little man in a bright green coat and pointy shoes running into the woods.
And in his hand was Bo's four-leaf clover.
Bo's mouth dropped open.
Hey, that's mine, he yelled, and without thinking, he ran outside in his pajamas and chased after him.
Stop, Bo cried as he ran into the woods.
The little man was fast, but Bo was faster.
When he finally caught up, the man spun around and Bo skidded to a stop.
Bo blinked.
Wait, it couldn't be.
Bo was standing in front of what looked like a leprechaun.
What?
Bo said out loud.
Leprechauns are real?
Of course I'm real, the leprechaun said.
I'm as real as that four-leaf clover you stole from me garden, say you did.
I've been trying to grow that thing for nearly a year and as soon as it came up, what did you go and do?
You took it from me.
You did.
You took it from me.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know it was yours, Bo said.
I thought I just got lucky.
Oh, you want to get lucky, do you?
Well, I have what you really need for that, you see.
You just need one of me lucky charms.
That's all.
If you let me have me clover...
I let you have this, and I think you'll find things tend to go better when you have this in your pocket.
But be careful what you wish for.
Okay.
Thanks, said Bo.
And, as strange as it seemed, less than three seconds after Bo put the lucky charm in his pocket, he heard his dad yelling Bo, where are you?
I just went out and bought a bunch of movies and video games.
Let's play them.
Well, that seemed unusual, but Bo ran inside and grabbed the controller from his dad.
Whoa, you got all the video games I wanted, Bo said.
And his dad grinned.
I don't know what came over me.
I just had this sudden urge to buy you all the video games you've ever wanted.
I couldn't actually remember which ones you wanted, so I just bought everything in the store.
And then suddenly, Bo realized.
It must be the charm!
He reached into his pocket and felt the tiny little trinket.
Maybe this thing really is lucky, he said under his breath.
And after playing video games for over three hours, Bo started to feel kinda groggy and tired.
It was like the more he played video games, the less fun they got.
And then he heard his mom yell, Bo, I just bought a bunch of cake and cookies and ice cream.
Come on up for dinner.
What?
Bo said.
This is really a dinner?
What about the usual meatloaf and sauerkraut?
And his mom said, oh, I figured this would be easier.
And let's not kid ourselves.
This tastes way better than sauerkraut.
So Bo ate and ate and ate until he felt sick.
Maybe we should just have a normal dinner from now on, Mom.
Bo almost couldn't believe what he was saying, because he always dreamed about just having dessert for dinner.
But now that he had it, he realized maybe it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
The rest of the day was filled with one amazing surprise after another.
His dad went out and spent their whole family's life savings on a new red sports car and said This is for you, Bo.
I know you've always wanted one of these, but I'm only eight, Dad.
I can't drive this.
And don't you need our money to buy groceries and stuff?
And his dad said, yeah, but who cares?
Let's live for it today.
Sports cars are way more fun.
And then, when Bo checked his backpack, he found a crumpled up homework assignment that he had completely forgotten about.
When he looked closer, his teacher had already given him an A+.
Bo could hardly believe it.
This was the best day ever, he said, flopping onto his bed that night.
I got all the video games I ever wanted.
I got to play with them until I felt sick.
Then I got to eat cake and ice cream until I got sick.
Plus, I got a new sports car I can't even drive.
But...
As he kept thinking back on it, and just as he was starting to drift off to sleep, he remembered the tiny voice as it seemed to whisper in his ear.
Be careful what you wish for.
Both sat up straight.
What?
Who's there?
But there was no answer.
And as he reached into his pocket and felt the charm, it became clear.
There was more to this luck than he realized.
But that's a story for another day.
