It first appeared in the June 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and has been reprinted a number of times, including in the 1961 collection Far Out.
Johnny Bornish is a young painter in New York city who is plagued by bad luck.
He is "the kind of person who gets his shirttail caught in zippers, is trapped by elevators and revolving doors, and trips on pebbles."
An acquaintance, Duke, a rogue and ladies' man, suggests that Johnny take a trip to Florida and lends him fifty dollars.
At the airport, Johnny realizes that his troubles started on the day ten years ago when he found a "Japanese coin" in high school.
He attempts to get rid of the coin but it somehow is returned to him each time; finally he crunches it in a hinged counter door and runs for the plane.
The director explains that the past is continually being recreated as a form of entertainment; Johnny was the "star" of a comedy show set in 1950's New York.