Howard Jones, 40 year old unemployed shmuck

Before he found the keys to the Paradise he had created, Howard Jones was a lonely 40 year old man with a long stream of bad luck. He dropped out of college to try and make it big, ultimately failing his start up that drained his entire bank account. He tried to work his way up a career, but there were always people around him to push him down. He started aiming for jackpots at casinos and gambling dens, only to find himself in debt with the mob. He was about to end it all when he came across the weird rock formation at the top of the ravine. Nothing had been the same when he touched it. When he came to, he was back home, unscathed and clean from the dirt, sweat and tears he had shed that day. For a while, he had thought that it was all a dream. He pushed on to go about his daily routine, expecting the worst for wear. That was then the familiar misfortunate events stopped becoming familiar.

When he checked his jacket pocket that morning, he found the lottery ticket he had bought the day before. As today was the draw, he scratched it out to find out that he had just won half a million dollars. After a short moment of jubilation, he then found his long lost car keys underneath the dining table, alongside the spare house keys he had lost with them. His checkbook mysteriously reappeared in his bedroom closet at the bottom of a pile of clean clothes. He later received a phone call later from the doctor who apologized for miscalculating his original prognosis of potential lung disease, faulting it on semi reliable medical equipment at the hospital. He knew that he was a heavy drinker and a heavy smoker, but somehow, he felt like he could climb the 3rd Street slope without winding himself halfway. The sudden streak of luck that manifested all at once continued to mount, as if the lifelong curse had magically been lifted and leaving behind a stream of good fortune. It seemed almost unnaturally so as seemingly random conveniences and corrections started to alter his life for the better, leaving Howard happily hoping such wonders would never end.