Okay, folks. For those of you who scoff at my assertion that the items I find when I’m out running are magical, let’s go a little deeper. Sometimes it isn’t so much what you find but how you find it. For instance, when you’re out on a run or a walk and you discover this:

It is a sign. A white wire coat hanger misshapen because it is not strong enough to hang any coat, hook down pointing west, crossed over parallel gouges in the pavement; it means something.

It means money ahead.

The gum balls nestled inside the hanger means the money is hidden under something, such as a pile of wet leaves.

You might think it’s just a soggy sawbuck. A bit of good luck. And it is. But see how the timing and discovery renders the utilitarian object preceding it a divining rod? We call this a magicker harbinger.

They are all around us. The next time you encounter an unexpected bit of luck, notice what preceded it. What happened immediately before your day was made or your fortune was found? What pointed the way or guided your eye/steps/intuition? We don’t just find these things. We are led to them. By a magicker harbinger. A universal rule of good manners in the magic world is give credit where it is due.

— Mercy