A Fortune
The short story -A Fortune- is made by the author Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi in 2000.
It is called - A Fortune- for many reasons. One of them is because the narrator, a pickpocket, loves to collect fortune cookies. The pocket thief had reviewed a fortune cookie when the story begins. The fortune cookie says " A change in your daily routine will lead you to treasure"[1] . He follows the advice, and take a rich man's boy home. It was not to kidnap the boy, but the pickpocket saw the boy alone, and wanted to help. The pocket thief take the boy home, where the pocket thief show him his collections of fortunes cookies quotes. The boy and the pocket thief have a lot in common. The pickpocket felt bad for the kid, and give the boy all of his fortune quotes, while he keep saying " You're tremendous"[2]. He kept saying these words to the kid, because the kid's father did not appreciate his son. The boy's father only cares about the material fortune, a example from the story is where the boy dropped a bag filled with salmon and the father yell this to him "You stupid, clumsy! Do you know how much that cost!"[3] The father did not see what a fortune he has in the boy. The pickpocket knew that "That guy didn't need his credit card or cash or eelskin wallet. He didn't know what fortune he had anyway"[4]
The story jumps from place to place and from time to time. It starts a Sunday but then it jumps to the past " I started pickpocketing when I was only five"[5] then to a description of his mother to a Christmas once. When the story jumps in time and place, you get a lot of memories and information. Especially when the short story is written in first-person narrative, the story is relayed by the main character, the pickpocket. A way to see it is written in first-person narrative, is the I. A random example from the story " It was Sunday when I saw the kid and the man with the bulging wallet"[6]. Another way to see it is written in first-person narrative is on the words mine, me and my. A instance from the story " My ma tired to raise me well"[7] When a story is written in first-person narrative, it gives the reader better insight in the main characters mind. You know what he is thinking, and why he does as he does " I don't know what compelled me, but my feet just sort of walked over to him before I told them to"[8]. As a reader with a good insight in the main characters mind, you can make a really good characterization of the narrator.
The narrator looks like his mom "Crooked teeth, oily hair, and bony knees are my curses"[9] he does not sound attractive, and he know he isn't. "I only can call her ugly-and only I can- because I inherited her looks."[10] The narrator is a neglected boy. His father, who also taught him to make pickpockting, left the family when the storyteller was young. The father left without "...a damn note or phone call for his only son" [11] which his son is mad about, that can be seen in the word damn. It will only be one note or his own son. He would not expect more than a damn note or phone call from his father, who left him alone with the mother. Still the narrator believe that he will see his father again " One day pop will show up again. I'll hand him the boxful of money..."[12] He will give his father the money he had stolen, just like in the good old days. The storyteller's mother did always cry, and was afraid that her son will be like his "Stinking rotting lout-of-a-father"[13] after the narrator's father left, the mother has been a crying disaster. The only other adult, the narrator could look up to would be his drunk uncle Barney. Uncle Barney never had a job except from Santa Claus once a year. That's stopped when the narrator was 5 years old. So the narrator grew up with kind of nothing. The narrator works every day excluding Sunday "Sunday was usually the only day I don't work...I do need a day of rest just like everyone else"[14] and when he comes home, it is to a lonely apartment. When the narrator takes the boy home, it is also to get company. He has become used to be alone, and he finds out that it is okay with some company.
The whole idea with this story is to remember people, that they have to remember what they have and not what they will have. Today people always thinks about the dream house, or the new car, but if they do not have someone to share it with, what's is the point of having it? The boy's father thinks of the fish and rush throw the market. The father have the dream house" I wasn't surprised to see that he lived in a good part of town"[15] Even though the father have the money and can get what he want he does not stop up. People should stop and look what they really have, what their real fortune is, and not look at their false material wealth.

---------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Line 39 page 9
[ 2 ]. Line 124 page 11, line 130 page 11, line 153 page 11
[ 3 ]. Line 58 page 9
[ 4 ]. Line 160 page 11
[ 5 ]. Line 4 page 8
[ 6 ]. Line 1 page 8
[ 7 ]. Line 15 page 8
[ 8 ]. Line 76-77 page 9
[ 9 ]. Line 17 page 8
[ 10 ]. Line 17 page 8
[ 11 ]. Line 28 page 8
[ 12 ]. Line 31 page 8
[ 13 ]. Line 20 page 8
[ 14 ]. Line 2-3 page 8
[ 15 ]. Line 48 page 11