April Dancer over the years had found herself drawn into this Friday the 13th superstition by Napoleon, though she didn't really hold much stock in the whole business.
She laughed when she saw UNCLE's top agent carrying around an assortment of so-called talismans- a hot pink rabbit's foot, a shaker of salt, and a twisted Italian Cornetto horn made of silver...all to ward off bad luck on this ominous date.
April tried to convince him there was a disorder for people who believed in the power of Friday the 13th, something called ' friggatriskaidekaphobia',but it did no good at all.
People believed what they wanted to believe, for whatever reason and for a man as strong willed as Solo there would never be anything that could convince him otherwise.
A lot of field agents were superstitious in general; in their line of work luck was something they all counted on, one way or another.
April fended off his pleas to protect herself, but i t wasn't until she found out that Illya, the ever pragmatic Soviet agent, had fallen for this whole bit of gullible nonsense as well. That it made her think there might just be something to all this superstitious nonsense after all. There had to be in order to convince Kuryakin the scientist and logical thinker to believe in it.
Once she saw his collection of charms he carried for luck, which consisted of a small Russian-made horse shoe with tiny bells hanging from it, a bauble called an Omamori which was a traditional Japanese charm inscribed with words of luck, a penny he once found laying heads up on the sidewalk, as well as his own rabbit's foot... she knew this had gotten serious.
Even her own partner had a four leafed clover that he kept tucked in his pocket on this day. She'd even heard rumors, though she never saw it herself, that Alexander Waverly would put up a horseshoe over the doors to his conference room.
Now that was beyond serious.
Dancer, dressed in a bright yellow mini dress with matching vinyl boots, walked with a spring in her step along the grey corridors of headquarters. Her auburn hair bounced as she wondered what she should have as a good luck charm. She didn't want exactly the same things the others used, but what to get?
Her head was in the clouds and she just missed a falling ladder, as someone from maintenance had backed into it.
After rounding the corner, heading to the Commissary she dodged a bucket of soapy water that had tipped over while the floor was being mopped; it sent one of the secretaries flying feet first up into the air and landing hard on her keister.
Dancer stopped short at the cafeteria doors, a light bulb going on over her head with an idea as to what to get for her charm.
She snapped her fingers as she stopped short; the doors suddenly malfunctioned, opening and closing quickly. One step farther and she would have been caught in them; still she paid little attention to them as her mind focused on what she needed.
April spun on her heels and decided to head out to find what she wanted at a local jeweler.
A half hour later, she finally made it to the Commissary, where she found all the others eating their lunch.
"April luv, where've you been?"Mark called to her as he waved her over to the table.
"Oh I had a little Friday the 13th shopping to do."
She immediately noticed all their charms and good luck pieces placed carefully on the table.
"For what, may I ask?" Napoleon pulled a chair out for her like a gentleman, helping her to be seated.
She held out her wrist, jangling her loaded charm bracelet.
"Behold my new good luck charms!" Added to her already large collection was a white enamelled disc dangling from her bracelet with the images of every possible good luck talisman...a four leaf clover, a rabbit's foot, a wishbone, a rainbow leading to a pot of gold, the number 7, an elephant with its trunk turned upwards, a shooting star and a ladybug. In the middle of the charm was inscribed the words 'Good Luck' with the U in luck shaped like a tiny horse shoe.
This accompanied a blue eye charm called a malocchio, to ward off the evil eye ( she'd gotten it from Solo as a gift) and a guardian angel charm from Mark, just to name a few.
Of course she had other charms of a more UNCLE-like nature, such as a pineapple charm that was explosive,(a more practical gift from Illya), charms made of various stones that would melt when in contact with certain metals and an eiffel tower charm that was a lock pick .
"Well you've got yourself covered from every angle and dare I say, stylishly," Napoleon grinned.
"Oh I'm not done boys." She pointed out another charm made of gold but with a wooden center, inscribed 'Touch Wood,' and then she pointed to her pinky then removed a piece of jewelry and set it on the table.
It was was a gold ring with a diamond encrusted horseshoe.
"Well boys, what do you think?"
"I think we're sticking with you today April," Napoleon said.
"Cheers!" Mark added.
"Da!" Kuryakin agreed. Up until that moment he'd been silent. "I must compliment you on your creativity April, and your good luck charms take up very little space...unlike ours."
"Leave it to a woman to figure these things out, darling." She winked.