Later on that evening after dad got home from work I showed him my magic penny too. He looked at it briefly, handed it back, giving me one of his patented smiles that said, “that’s nice…now go away.” “Fine son, if you think so,” he told me as he handed it back. “You know what they say though don’t you?”
“No…what?”
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” And then he didn’t say another word as he went back to reading his newspaper.
I looked at my penny. Maybe it wasn’t magic after all. But I wasn’t going to just save it either. If anything, I could spend it on a “two-fer” as we called them. Penny candies. Only they weren’t just a penny. Some of them got you a “two-fer” for one penny as we called them back then. Six chocolate’s in a plastic wrap, but for a penny you could get two of them. A good deal at any price.
I ran upstairs to my room to get cleaned up for dinner, placed the penny on my nightstand, and promptly forgot all about it. Until the following day when Jimmy, who was my best friend at the time, and his younger sister Mila came over. I’d always had a bit of a crush on Mila, though I wasn’t supposed to have one of those I suppose. Guys my age weren’t supposed to be into girls yet.
So I pretty much kept that a secret to myself. And I certainly wasn’t about to ever admit that to Mila either. I wasn’t sure she even liked me all that much, though she was always tagging along, hanging out with us all the time, which Jimmy said his mother forced him to do, thus keeping an eye on her.
They’d come over, hanging around my room, reading comic books, though Mila as usual was bored, rummaging through stuff. My stuff, which was fairly annoying, even though I sort of liked her.
I saw her pick up my penny almost nonchalantly, looking at it, though also looking like she was going to take it.
“Hey, put it back. That’s my penny!” I told her. She looked at me like I’d gone mad.
“It’s just a penny. What’s so special about it?”
“It’s magic…that’s what!” I said, though to be honest, I no longer believed it really was. But the thing was, I was irritated at her for almost swiping it. I reached out for it, though she did her teasing thing, holding it out to me, and then taking it back before I could get it from her. “Come on…give it.”
“What’s so magic about it?” She teased, Jimmy looking on, finding amusement in my struggle and his sister’s obvious annoyance with me. I closed the distance between us, once again grabbing her hand, this time too fast for her to do anything as I struggled with her. Her laughing, me trying to force her hand open, finally doing so, reaching for the penny…and then this little spark suddenly happened again.
The penny glowed, only briefly, but the spark made us both flinch, both of us dropping it where it rolled off somewhere on the floor.
“What was that?” She asked looking at her hand, though there weren’t any marks there, even though she rubbed at a supposed spot. “What did you do?”
“What’d he do?” Jimmy said only now curious.
“He made it glow,” Mila told him. “The penny.”
“Where is it?”
“Somewhere around here on the floor,” I said now looking for it, as suddenly we all were.
And then Mila found it, only she didn’t really say anything, holding it, palming it, once again attempting to steal it, keep it perhaps. Only I heard her, looking up then as she just stood there, though her mouth never moved.
“”You’ll never find it,” she said…without saying it. “Because I found it, and I’m never going to tell you.”
“Give it here,” I said looking at her. “Give it to me. I know you have it Mila, now give it back.”
She looked at me in surprise. And then reached into the pocket of her pants, pulling it out and handing it back to me.
“Here, keep your old stupid penny,” she stated. And then she said…and just because of that, I’ll never let you kiss me either.”
Only thing was, she didn’t say that. Once again, I’d heard it, but she hadn’t actually said that to me.
“Who says I’d want to kiss you anyway?” I then asked her. The look in her eyes, the sudden stunned expression on her face as she suddenly turned and bolted from my bedroom said it all.
“What the hell was that all about?” Jimmy asked, though now forced to leave, as he’d catch hell for it if he didn’t accompany his sister.
I stood there looking at my Penny, realizing what had just happened. Not understanding it, not at all. But maybe…just maybe…that Penny really was magic afterall.
**
That then became my secret. Maybe the penny really was magic. Though if it was, it wasn’t magic for very long. And it didn’t seem to really do anything more than allow me to hear someone’s thoughts for a few minutes or so at the most. But that was pretty cool in and of itself. Though I quickly learned not to tell anyone I could do that either. For one thing, they wouldn’t believe me.
But for another, if they did…and if they realized there were times I could honestly do that, well then…it would take all the fun out of it for one thing. And rob me of my Magic Penny for another. It was just too good of a thing to share with anyone after that.
And so my penny became my good luck piece too in a way. Always with me, always on me…though I rarely if ever took it out when I was around anyone, which was ironically weird in a sense. And because I didn’t, it didn’t do anything either. And I couldn’t just make the little spark come because I wanted it too, even though I tried countless times. It just didn’t work that way for some reason.
And then one day, I lost my penny. I’d left it in my pants pocket, on the floor in my bedroom when I went in to take a bath. I didn’t know it, didn’t realize it until much later, but mom had come in, gathered up my dirty clothes and took them into the laundry room to wash. I don’t know whatever happened to my magic penny, but it was gone. And even after I exhausted several hours looking for it, I finally gave up and resigned myself to the fact I’d never be able to do that again.