Patty hurried home in the predawn light, her cobbler tools slung over her shoulder. Thirteen orphan shoes repaired, and not one had woken up. Not bad for a night’s work. She whistled three cheery notes before cutting herself off, remembering that she mustn’t be seen.

Everything had gone so splendidly that night. That worried her. Her kin called her “Patty the Unlucky,” for despite being a leprechaun, she had worse luck than your average human.

Patty’s feet tingled, and she froze in place. Her sixth sense told her that somewhere, nearby, there was… there! Down the trash-filled alley was a shoe in distress. A gorgeous red patent leather high-heeled ankle boot gleamed amid the detritus. An integrated red leather strap dangled loose, missing the buckle meant to snuggle the boot around a slim ankle.

Succumbing to the siren song of the elegant footwear, Patty walked over and picked up the shoe. It jingled. Shhh, she hissed at it, and dropped her tools to silence the boot’s little bell charm with her other hand. The tools clanged loudly upon impact with the street.

“Aha!” rang a voice of voice of triumph from the alley entrance. Patty turned slowly around and saw a tall, beefy man blocking her path. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist that shoe!” he said, grabbing her firmly by the collar. “I want my three wishes.”

“Oh sir,” said Patty in agitation, “please don’t. I’m so terribly unlucky. Your wishes will go horribly wrong!”

“Hah! You can’t fool me. Now first off, I want my wife back. Right here. Back to me.”

With a flash of light, the boot in Patty’s hand was filled with a slim ankle. The ankle was attached to a heavyset woman, naked, entwined with a man. The pair pitched headfirst into the garbage heap. As the burly man’s mouth went slack, so did his fingers, and Patty took off running.

Nearing home, she considered how to tell her father. He would kill her for losing another set of tools. He’d probably even make her go back to the man to give him his last two wishes. Maybe she could say a dog ate her tools. But again?

Drat it all. Drat her rotten luck!

The day started out like any other day, Patty took her pot of gold to her personal rainbow intending to spend the day enjoying the sun and the warm shine of her gold. Upon reaching her rainbow however, she found her spot had been taken by none other than her least favorite person, Tweex the Fortunate Leprechaun. Tweex was the luckiest leprechaun alive and Patty absolutely despised her. With her usual spot taken Patty trudged off to find another rainbow. As her name suggested Patty wasn't very lucky and had wandered very far before coming across an available rainbow in one of the shadier areas of the world far too close to humans than Patty would have liked. Patty reluctantly set her pot of gold down and reclined in the partial sun to enjoy the colors of the rainbow bouncing of her gold. Patty soon drifted off and awoke some time later to the sounds of heavy panting. She opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. Her pot of gold was missing and there was  an enormous dog staring at her. Being a leprechaun Patty was only a few feet tall and that was about the same height as the dog in front of her. Patty look at the dog and the dog looked at Patty, then with a playful bark the dog bounded towards her and Patty took off running. She ran far and the dog ran after her. Patty ran past her usual rainbow where Tweex watched her with a slightly confused expression, past her favorite tree, and finally she could almost make out her home in the distance. She was only a few feet away from her door when she tripped and the dog caught up. If there was one thing Patty hated more than losing her gold it was being covered in dog spit and it simply made her day when the dog proceeded to slobber all over her. A few minutes and numerous curses later Patty made her way in her house thoroughly exhausted and in a decidedly unhappy state. ~The End.~