Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day

Setting:
A cozy coffee shop in Toronto. It’s a chilly Friday the 13th in October. The air smells like pumpkin spice, and the leaves outside are golden and fluttering in the wind.

Raj: (looking nervously at his phone)
Maya, I’m telling you—something’s off today. It’s Friday the 13th. I shouldn’t have even left my apartment.

Maya: (sipping her latte, amused)
Raj, you say that every Friday the 13th. And yet here you are—alive, latte in hand, scarf fashionably wrapped. Where’s the bad luck?

Raj:
Oh really? You want examples? This morning, I spilled coffee on my new white shirt. Then my bus was late. And guess what? My horoscope said “beware of troubling energies.”

Maya:
Raj, spilling coffee isn’t a curse—it’s just physics and a poor grip. And the TTC is always late, regardless of numerology. As for horoscopes… let’s not open that can of pseudoscientific worms.

Raj:
Come on, you can’t deny Friday the 13th has a vibe. Like, remember that time in 2020 when my flight got canceled, my suitcase broke, and I lost my glasses—all on Friday the 13th?

Maya:
Okay, yes, that was a terrible day. But correlation doesn’t equal causation. Bad days happen. If you counted every Monday the 8th where something minor went wrong, would you declare it cursed too?

Raj:
But why is it always Friday the 13th people talk about? Not Monday the 8th. There has to be something to it—so many cultures fear that number.

Maya: (leaning in)
Actually, that’s the fascinating part. It’s mostly Western superstition. The number 13 got a bad rep from Norse mythology—Loki was the 13th guest at a banquet that ended in disaster. Then Christianity associated 13 with the Last Supper. It’s all cultural storytelling. Not universal truth.

Raj: (grinning)
Still sounds spooky enough to be real. And why do so many elevators in Toronto skip the 13th floor?

Maya:
Because people like you would refuse to live on it! It’s more about real estate psychology than metaphysical proof. No one wants a $2,000-a-month curse. Can you imagine someone trying to sublet Apartment 1306?

Raj: (laughs)
Okay, okay, you got me there. But listen, there’s comfort in rituals and traditions. They make the world feel less random.

Maya: (nodding)
I get that. Humans crave patterns—it’s how our brains evolved. But sometimes we see patterns that don’t exist. Like blaming an unlucky number for a bad day instead of just… bad luck or poor planning.

Raj:
So you never knock on wood or avoid walking under ladders?

Maya:
I mean, I do avoid walking under ladders, but that’s because falling paint cans are a thing—not because of spirits lurking above.

Raj: (playfully dramatic)
I bet you secretly toss salt over your shoulder when no one’s looking.

Maya:
Only if I’m seasoning a steak.

(Both laugh.)

Raj:
Alright, fine. Maybe it’s all in my head. But it’s a fun kind of paranoia. Like a spooky tradition we all agreed to pretend is real.

Maya:
Totally fair. As long as it doesn’t control your decisions or stress you out. Think of Friday the 13th as a free pass to eat chocolate and watch horror movies guilt-free.

Raj:
Now that’s a tradition I can get behind.

Maya:
See? Friday the 13th might actually be… lucky. You’re out with your favorite friend, sipping overpriced coffee, and debating the mysteries of the universe.

Raj: (raising his cup)
To rational superstition and superstitious rationality.

Maya: (clinking her cup)
Cheers, my skeptical believer.

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[End Scene]