The Mug was in the Microwave

It must have been Monday I put it there, before landing the 40-odd/1 Henderson double at Exeter. I'm not at all superstitious but I like to think it shows I care enough about horse racing to use it when I have a bet on. It's my favourite and the six horses depicted on it would have  gone off favourite in most of their races, too.

But then I couldn't find it. It wasn't by the sink or on the draining board. It wasn't on the table by the computer. Neither was it anywhere else that I knew it wouldn't be but checked anyway, like upstairs or in the front room. It couldn't have evaporated and I'm not one for the supernatural but, not drinking out of it, Tuesday's and Wednesday's results gave back a good part of Monday's profit.

Il Pino won at Wincanton for Mr. Nicholls today, though, and then, reading Seamus Heaney in the bath, it dawned on me. It will be in the microwave. I didn't need to look, I knew it must be. So maybe it's not the mug that makes the horses win but the horse winning was a portent of finding the mug.