[Scene: A cozy Parisian café, Friday the 13th. Claire and Élodie sit at a small round table by the window, sipping coffee.]
Claire: (glancing nervously at the street) I’m telling you, Élodie, we shouldn’t have met today. It’s Friday the 13th! You know that’s asking for trouble.
Élodie: (chuckling) Claire, if bad luck were really waiting outside, I think it would’ve hit you before you ordered that ridiculously overpriced macaron.
Claire: Ha-ha, very funny. You say that now, but last year on Friday the 13th, I sprained my ankle tripping over my own doorstep! And the year before, my phone fell in the toilet. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Élodie: Claire, you trip over your doorstep at least once a month, and I remember you dropping your phone because you were texting and brushing your teeth at the same time. That’s not a curse — that’s multitasking gone wrong.
Claire: But why is it always on this day? And you can’t deny people fear it for a reason. Hotels skip room 13, some airplanes skip row 13. It’s not just me!
Élodie: True, but you know why that happens? It’s cultural conditioning. The more people fear something, the more society bends to it, and the stronger the superstition gets. It’s like a feedback loop.
Claire: Hmm. Still, you can’t ignore centuries of tradition. In Italy, the number 13 is lucky, but here? Disaster. My grandmother always said, “Don’t plan anything important on Friday the 13th.” She once postponed a wedding because of it!
Élodie: (grinning) And yet, statistically, Friday the 13th is no more dangerous than any other day. Insurance companies don’t report more claims. Hospitals don’t see more accidents. Studies have even shown some people drive more cautiously on Friday the 13th.
Claire: Maybe they drive more cautiously because they’re afraid!
Élodie: Exactly! So the superstition affects behavior, not reality. It’s like walking under a ladder — it’s not the ladder’s fault if you get hit by falling paint, it’s physics.
Claire: Hmph. But sometimes, the universe feels off. Like last year, when I missed the last train, and I ended up stranded in the rain — on Friday the 13th!
Élodie: And the day before, you lost your metro card, and the day after you spilled coffee on your white blouse. Bad days happen. We just remember the ones with dramatic dates.
Claire: You really think it’s all in my head?
Élodie: Not in a dismissive way. Our brains are wired to look for patterns, even when none exist. It’s called confirmation bias. We remember the unlucky Fridays and forget the boring, harmless ones.
Claire: (mock groaning) Why did I have to be friends with a scientist?
Élodie: Because without me, you’d never have survived grad school. And because deep down, you like a little dose of reason with your espresso.
Claire: Hmm. Maybe. But still, would it kill you to knock on wood once in a while?
Élodie: (playfully knocks on the table) There. Happy?
Claire: You missed the salt! You have to throw a pinch over your left shoulder.
Élodie: Oh no. Now you’re just inventing new rules.
Claire: Hey, if I have to live in a universe of chaos, at least let me sprinkle in some magic.
Élodie: Fair enough. How about this — I’ll be your rational anchor, and you can be my charmingly superstitious guide. Deal?
Claire: Deal. But if we leave this café and a black cat crosses our path, you’re walking me home.
Élodie: (laughing) Deal. But only if you promise not to dodge under any ladders on the way.
[They clink their coffee cups together, laughing as the rain begins to patter softly on the window.]
Science Vs Superstition 
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