Martha Changes Her Luck

Martha Changes Her Luck is the second half of the nineteenth episode of Season 1.

Quick Synopsis
Martha walked under a ladder, then broke a mirror, so now she thinks she's jinxed. And she is worried her bad luck is rubbing off on everybody else. Helen tries to explain that all the accidents are just coincidences, but things just seem to get worse.

Summary
The episode begins with Helen, Martha and Carolina walking along the street. Martha asks the girls why they have to go and Helen says that she told her already that going to the movies is better than watching them at home. Martha asks why and what they have which is special, to which Helen responds that they have popcorn. Martha points out that they have popcorn at home. Helen points out the movie theater serves cold drinks, but Martha points out they have those at home too. Helen thinks for a bit and says they have comfy seats. Carolina says she knows what the movie theater has: no dogs. She then takes Helen by the arm and both run ahead, leaving a surprised and annoyed Martha behind. Martha runs up to the girls, and once she's caught up with them, she asks the girls why they are going again. Helen says she wants to see a new movie entitled The Curse of the Cursed. As they cross the road, Martha thinks that Helen wants to see a movie with bad words in it and doesn't think Mariella would approve. Helen explains that the movie title doesn't mean curse words, but a person who is cursed, i.e. they have bad luck. When they get to the theater, Carolina says that they have bad luck right now and points out a ladder which is in front of the door, blocking their way. Helen says she wishes it wasn't there. Martha thinks they can just walk under it, but Carolina says that that's bad luck. Helen says that the idea that walking under a ladder is bad luck is just a superstition. Martha wonders if Helen's talking about a superhero named "Super Stition" and Helen says no, a superstition is a belief in something that's not true, like magic. Carolina believes it would take magic to walk under a ladder and not get bad luck. Helen says that the reason you shouldn't walk under a ladder is because it is dangerous. Carolina says that the bad luck is the danger and Helen says that the danger is the possibility of something falling on your head. Carolina believes that the reason something would fall on your head would be the bad luck you got from walking under the ladder. Martha then walks under the ladder, saying they are both wrong as she walked under and nothing bad happened. She then circles under the ladder, but walks backwards, bumping into the ladder and knocking down a tin of green paint that was on the ladder, which spills all over her fur.

Martha then gets a bath at Helen's bathroom, with Carolina on a nearby chair and Skits sleeping on the floor. She wonders if walking under ladders really is bad luck since the paint fell on her fur and then she had to have a bath (which she thinks is bad luck as she dislikes baths). She wonders if she will have to go to the vet next (which she also doesn't like because of the shots). This startles Skits and he runs out of the room. Carolina, who's primping in front of her hand mirror, says that she wouldn't be surprised as all kinds of things can go wrong when you're jinxed. Martha, who is being washed by Helen, asks in a frightened voice what "jinxed" means. Carolina sets her mirror on the shelf, sits back into her chair, and says that it's like having a cloud of bad luck around you all the time. This scares Martha, who thinks she can feel the "bad luck cloud", which feels like a wet blanket. Helen, putting a towel on Martha, says that what she felt was the towel, not a cloud. Martha then gets out of the bath and shakes water on the girls. Helen, who's drying Martha off, says that curses and the state being jinxed don't really exist. She admits bad things do happen, but states that one can't just "make" them happen. Carolina, getting up, says that you can get cursed from walking under a ladder. Helen, still drying Martha, explains to Martha that the reason she got a bath was because she got splashed by paint and the reason she got splashed by paint was because there was an open tin of paint on the ladder she backed into. She then promises that there is no curse and that Carolina is just being superstitious. Martha is reassured and shouts "Whoopee!" and jumps for joy. Carolina, still not convinced, says "You hope." Martha continues jumping, running, and cheering until she knocks over Carolina's chair, which knocks over a broom, which knocks Carolina's mirror off the shelf and it breaks. Martha, in a shy manner apologizes, but Carolina says that breaking the mirror means Martha will get seven years of bad luck. This makes Martha sad again.

In the Lorraine family kitchen, Carolina is at the table eating a sandwich, Skits is lying nearby, and Martha, now worried more than sad, is pacing around, saying she is doomed because one people year equals seven dog years, which equals forty-nine years of bad luck. She asks what to do as Helen comes in with a sandwich. Carolina suggests taking a really long nap. Martha lies down and Helen says that if Martha were jinxed, would she share her peanut butter sandwich with her? Martha perks up and states her luck will change. Carolina says, "Don't bet on it". Helen tosses Martha a bit of the sandwich, but then Skits catches it in midair. Carolina shakes her head and tuts. Helen says that Skits catching Martha's snack was just a fluke. Martha asks what a fluke is and wonders if it's another word for "cursed". Helen says that it means it was an accident. She takes off another piece of sandwich and wants to give it to Martha, but she declines it, believing herself to be jinxed and not able to catch the piece of sandwich. She then mopes. Carolina, bored of Martha's moping, goes off to play with Jake.

In the garden, Helen throws a baseball for Skits. Martha is next to her, moping. Skits fetches the ball and Helen declares him a good boy. She throws it again and invites Martha to play fetch too. Martha doesn't see the point as she believes she'll never catch anything for forty-nine years. Helen points out that Martha definitely won't if she doesn't try. T.D. comes on his bike, with a kite, inviting Helen and her dogs over to the park to fly it. Martha just says the word "doomed" in a dejected voice. T.D. asks what's wrong with Martha. Helen explains that Martha thinks she's cursed because she broke a mirror. T.D. says he can sympathise as he once had a streak of bad luck that lasted for two months. Martha asks what happened, and T.D. says that he had a sore throat that didn't go away and then he had to go to the hospital and get surgery. However, he notes that his luck changed after that because his throat got better and people gave him ice cream. Helen explains that T.D. just had to get his tonsils out but T.D. said that despite his parents having told him so, it was a weird coincidence that he had good luck after the tonsils were removed. Martha doesn't know what a "coincidence" is. Helen explains that it's when two things happen at the same time so you think that one thing caused the other, but it didn't. Martha asks for an example. Helen says that it would be a coincidence if she wished for ice cream out loud and an ice cream truck showed up. As a very strange, almost scary, coincidence, an ice cream truck does show up. Everyone is shocked. T.D. asks Helen how she did that and Helen says she didn't; it was a coincidence. T.D. doesn't believe her and says an insincere quip before going off to get ice cream. Helen follows, a bit annoyed that everyone she's been interacting with lately has been acting superstitious.

At the park, T.D. and Helen are enjoying their ice creams, but Martha is sad because the ice cream truck driver was sold out of vanilla ice cream. Helen says that it was a fluke and vanilla was popular that day. She says she wants to share her ice cream cone with Martha, but it's chocolate, which is bad for dogs. T.D. starts to fly his kite and says that Martha should cheer up because it could be worse. Martha asks how to which T.D. responds that he saw a movie once about a man who was so jinxed that his bad luck rubbed off on everyone else and he had to live in a cave. Then, T.D.'s kite gets stuck in a tree. Martha worries that she's having the same problems as the man in that movie T.D. saw and wonders what to do as she doesn't want to live in a cave. T.D. suggests eating ice cream to get better luck as it worked for him. Martha asks Helen to summon an ice cream truck with vanilla. Helen says that it's a fluke and that it's not like she can make an ice cream truck appears when she snaps her fingers. However, by another eerie coincidence, when she does snap her fingers, an ice cream truck appears. T.D. and the dogs think that Helen summoned it, but Helen, annoyed, tries to explain that it was a fluke.

After they finish their ice cream and walk down the street, T.D. asks Martha if her "curse" has gone away. Martha says she hopes so. Skits runs up to the garden centre where Mariella is working and barks. The others catch up to him.

Vocabulary
Jinx, Superstitious, Curse, Coincidence, reason, luck, chance, accident, fluke, doomed

Present Characters

 * Martha


 * Helen
 * Carolina
 * Jake
 * Mariella
 * Daniel
 * Skits Lorraine

Mentioned Only

 * O.G. Kennelly (mentioned)
 * Janice Kennelly (mentioned)