The Moons of Uranus

2026WinStreak

The Moons of Uranus

     Paul Lerner, a senior citizen, was a New Yorker and was also Jewish.  This meant he was a natural born skeptic and pessimist.  The saying---expect the worst but hope for the best was meant for people like him.  His mother was also a skeptic and pessimist.  Her favorite saying was “There’s always something.”’

     However, on occasion even for Paul things seemed to be breaking right.  When this happened he thought of it as being on a winning streak.  This happened recently.

His sister, 90 years old, was scheduled to have major surgery.  His fridge freezer for some unknown reason wasn’t freezing.  He’d received a notice that his state tax return was incorrect and he owed a lot of money.  The notice said his income for the previous year was $150,000, something he wished it had been but his income had never been anywhere near that.  He spent almost the whole day trying to get through the state tax agency’s automated phone system.  When he finally did he was told that everyone should use turbotax or a tax advisor and not try to do it by themselves.      

     On this morning his nephew called and told him his sister had made it through the surgery with no trouble, was resting comfortably and would be going home in a couple of days.  Paul was relieved.

     Paul checked his freezer.  The thermometer he’d put in showed a temperature, not of the desired zero, but close enough,  The carton of ice cream he’d put in as a test was no longer mushy but had firmed up.  It seemed the freezer was back to doing its job. 

     His son, who had contacted the state agency on his behalf regarding his tax called.  The state tax board had admitted it had made a mistake regarding his income.  They told his son they ran tax forms through AI and sometimes AI made a mistake reading handwritten numbers on tax returns.  His tax return was okay.

     When he went to bed that night Paul wondered if he was on a winning streak.  He played Question of the Day on his Alexa every night.  This time the question was from what play the musical West Side Story was derived from and that was an easy one, Romeo and Juliet.  The bonus question was after what writer’s characters were the moons of Uranus named.  Paul had no idea but one of the choices was Shakespeare so he guessed that.  It was right.  So maybe he was on a winning streak.  If he was, it wouldn’t last long.  As his mother always said There’s always something.   

Author’s Note:  now you see why the title of this little piece is The Moons of Uranus.  It probably should be The Winning Streak,