Lucky Penny

            It was a warm sunny day when I fell tails up onto the rough hot cement. It happens to every penny in their life time so I knew I shouldn’t be too upset, but Harold’s pocket was my home. At first I held out hope that he would turn around and find me. “There you are Lincoln”, he would say. He would then pick me up and we would go on our merry way. No such luck. I laid there for six days.

            The first day was the loneliest. The second day was essentially the same, but with people stepping on me. The third day a piece of chewed gum landed next to me and his name was Joe. The fourth day it just rained and Joe turned into more of a puddle. On the morning of the fifth day someone flipped me over. With my head up I could better see Joe and where I had landed. We were in front of a diner named Nick’s Family Diner, which was squeezed between a real-estate agency and Starbucks. That afternoon I watched Joe stick to the shoe of a lanky boy wearing glasses and disappear. On the sixth day a gentleman nervously stood above me at the entrance of the diner. I could see his knees shaking. Then he looked down at me. “Find a penny pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck”, he whispered as he picked me up. His hands were very sweaty and just as shaky as his knees. He looked up into the diner and took a deep breath.

            As I slipped into his pocket I immediately bumped into something. I figured it was a wallet of sorts, but I didn’t hear the buzz and chatter that usually came with it. It’s impossible to find a quiet wallet when there so many things inside. It was a box. I tapped a little against it and found it to be pretty hallow. I found a crack in the side and slipped halfway in.

“Hello?” a frightened and soft voice whispered from inside. I didn’t respond.

“Who’s there?” the same soft voice. I took a deep breath.

“I’m – um – I’m Lincoln.” I managed to stammer out.

Silence.

“I’m Tiffany.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Just today. I usually hide in his underwear drawer.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“Are you actually good luck?”

“What?”

“I heard pennies are good luck. I’ve never actually met one though so I’ve never had the chance to ask.” Who hadn’t met a penny before, I wondered

“I’d like to think I am. We’ll just have to see though. Are you, erm, lucky?” a soft giggle rose out of her.

“I don’t know, but David sure seems to think so. He goes on and on about how much Emma will love me.”

“Are you a present then?”

“In a way I suppose so.” At that moment David sat down. Tiffany and I were suddenly thrown at each other and became very still.

“Sorry.” I said while backing away. I knew rings didn’t like to be touched by anything to low down.

“Oh no you’re okay.” She was clearly no ordinary ring. I looked at her real close. She was silver with a single diamond on the top. Very simple, but one of the most beautiful I’d seen.  She was looking at me as questioningly as I was looking at her.

“What are you thinking about?” I was curious if her mind was as beautiful as her appearance.

“Well,” she started, “a lot of things. When will David ask Emma? Will she really like me? What’s she like? Those kinds of things.” She worries a lot. “What are you thinking?”

“I was wondering how I got so lucky as to end up in a pocket with you.” At this moment I could have sworn I felt her band warm just the slightest bit.

“Right place at the right time I suppose.” She sounded as if she was smiling. How I wished to see that smile. David adjusted his leg causing another shift of us bonking into each other. This time I wasn’t so quick to move away. Tiffany didn’t seem to mind my proximity.

“How long do you think you’ll be here?” She seemed genuinely concerned that I might leave.

“I don’t know. Until I’m used or forgotten.”

“That’s terribly sad.” I heard a slight tremor in her voice as it grew softer.

“It’s just the life of a penny.”

“Well what if I refuse to forget you?” I felt butterflies and the corner of my mouth raise.

“That would be an honor considering your standing.”

“I don’t have much of one to be perfectly honest. I’m nothing gaudy or high priced. Just simple and just me.”

“Well you are beautiful and I consider you worth much more than a pretty, well, me.” A soft giggle emerges from her.

“You’re sweet. No one’s said that to me before.”

“Well you’re hanging with the wrong crowd then. Just stick with me. I’ll tell you everything you deserve to hear.” I hadn’t noticed, but we had moved closer. So close I could feel her smile against me.

“Lincoln. . .” she was whispering now.

“yes?”

“I hope you stay here for a while.”

“Me too.”

A sudden jerk from David tossed me to the other side of the pocket. A familiar sweaty hand came in and grabbed Tiffany inside her box. I reached and clung to the velvety side only to fall heads up on the floor of the diner in the process.

“Tiffany!” I shouted, but she couldn’t hear me. David began to speak.

“Emma, would you do me the honor in becoming my wife?” He looked so happy and they were both crying as she said yes. David then took Tiffany and slipped her on to Emma’s finger. I saw Tiffany’s mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear her or lip read what she was saying. Her eyes frantically searched the ground and finally laid upon me. David and Emma then started to walk to the exit of the diner.

            “No!” I tried to shout and get their attention, but there was nothing I could do. They were gone. I’m distraught. She wanted me to stay.

            “Oh look! A penny!” Suddenly I’m in the air and in a pocket. I can’t tell what kind of pocket I’m in. I can see a face and feel a heartbeat. I guess a shirt pocket. I can’t stop thinking about Tiffany. How can my life only be me leaving those I grow attached to? I want to scream at this man to take me to find David. I want to cry so that I might feel better. However, I can’t do either of those things. I’m too tiny, too insignificant. All I want to do is close my eyes and sleep.

            I wake up, what feels like minutes later, to the sound of bells ringing and a machine whirring. I look out through the pocket and see a conveyor belt with metals. Out of curiosity I inch closer and closer to the edge of the pocket, until I get a good view. The metals seem to go down this belt and then fall into an abyss at the end. What’s really at the end though? I try to inch just a bit more and then find myself smack in the middle of all the metals I was once looking down on.

            “What’s going on?’

            “Where are we going?”

            “How did I get here?”

            “What’s happening?” There was a thick fog of confusion over everyone, but underneath it all I could feel nothing but fear. What was going to happen? As we all got closer to the end we heard screaming and felt a lot of heat. I knew that there must be some sort of melting pot at the end. This was it. I would never again find Tiffany. I pictured her smile and the way her diamond shown in the dim light of the pocket. She said she wouldn’t forget me. I won’t forget her either. So with her name as the last thing on my lips and my mind, I fell. . .

            Many months must have had passed before I became conscious. People had winter coats and scarfs with them. I felt warm though. There was a bright light shining down on me. I heard murmuring all around me.

            “Where am I?” no answer to me as I’m being lifted from the box of light and into a small dark box.

            “There you two are. Have a good one.” So I’ve been bought?

            “See Em? That was easy. No big deal.”

            “I didn’t say it would be hard David. I just thought that we should have bought your ring more than three days before the wedding.”

            “It’s fine. It’s done now.” Those sounded like familiar names. I just couldn’t quite place where.

            For the next three days I sat in the dark box. There was no one to talk to and nothing to see. Finally on the fourth day I saw light. I was picked up by a familiar male face and then immediately handed to a tiny snot covered hand. From there I was tied to a pillow and carried around a house while listening to this child sneeze and cry for his mother. Not the best company, but better than that dark box. Finally someone grabbed the kid and pulled him into a line where everyone was quite. All you could hear was a piano. Doors opened to a large room where people were seated and watched the boy and I move down the aisle. Then everyone looked back. I saw a women in a beautiful white dress walking slowly towards us. Then it hit me.

            “Tiffany!” David had Tiffany in his pocket and he gave her to Emma. That’s Emma. “Tiffany!” Oh god what if she did forget about me? What if she doesn’t even recognize me? She’s coming. She has to remember.

            Upon reaching the end of the aisle I could really see Tiffany, but she wasn’t looking at me. I tried to wiggle but the string holding me down was too strong. “Tiffany!” Emma then started to reach for me. This was my chance. Her hand was right there and with Tiffany on it.

            “Tiffany!”

            “How do you know my name?”

            “Tiffany I tried to stay! I fell! I need you to remem-“

            “Lincoln. . .” she said it quietly, almost as a question.

“Yes.” Oh my god she remembered.

“Lincoln!”

“Tiffany.” We just smiled at each other. Not knowing what else to say as Emma slipped me onto David’s finger.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife” the preacher announced as many people applauded. When David and Emma clasped hands to walk back down the aisle I looked at Tiffany.

“I hope I stay here for a while.” I said.

“Me too.” She replied.