The first fact the you must know about this story is... My father was a gambler, especially card games and slot machines. You must know this or what follows will not be as fantastic or magical.
My father liked to go to the casino in Anderson. He could walk in with one dollar and walk out with two hundred. Luck was always on his side. He was a lucky man.
When I was in middle school, my parents bought a three-piece bedroom set at the Pendleton Furniture Mart for me. Two solid blond wood dressers and a matching twin bed with a trundle underneath it. We lived in a typical ranch-style house with three bedrooms. We always referred to the smallest one as "the little bedroom." And it was in this room where my bedroom set would live out its life until it moved on to my nephew.
Last Friday, I had to go to my parents' house to begin the final process of cleaning it out. I worked throughout the morning pulling like items together, choosing items I wanted, and general cleaning. One chore was to clean off the twin bed in the little bedroom and take off the sheets so they could be washed. After moving stacks of pillows elsewhere, I pulled off the worn 1990s comforter, then pulled back the top floral-patterned sheet that had belonged to my grandmother. Sunlight coming through the window hit a shiny object on the fitted sheet. A single penny.
Usually I do no pick up pennies unless they are heads up. It's back luck to pick up a penny that is tales up. But in this case, it was tales up and this was not an ordinary penny. It was one of the pennies with a shield and "one cent" in a banner on the back. I am not sure how the penny got there, but there it was. I took it as a sign from my father. To me, the shield represented protection. I smiled, picked it up, and put it in my jeans pocket.
Next, I pulled off the matching fitted sheet. When I shook it, I heard a tinkling sound. Rummaging through the corner of the sheet, I felt two coins. Grabbing them from the fitted pocket, then opening my palm... Two dimes. I found two dimes. I smiled and put them in my pocket and gave them no further thought.
Until the other night.
Two dimes and a penny. Two dimes and one penny... Twenty-one cents. Twenty-one... The winning number in the card game, Blackjack. A sign from the gambler himself? Maybe. I like to think so.
Then something else struck me. The trilogy. Two dimes and one penny. The dimes represent my parents and the penny is me. Found in the bed my parents gave me, neatly tucked between the flat and fitted sheets. The dimes were worth more and had greater value then the penny. The penny represented luck and protection as reflected in the shield.
Yes, I am a lucky penny to have had two great dimes.
CSM
My father liked to go to the casino in Anderson. He could walk in with one dollar and walk out with two hundred. Luck was always on his side. He was a lucky man.
When I was in middle school, my parents bought a three-piece bedroom set at the Pendleton Furniture Mart for me. Two solid blond wood dressers and a matching twin bed with a trundle underneath it. We lived in a typical ranch-style house with three bedrooms. We always referred to the smallest one as "the little bedroom." And it was in this room where my bedroom set would live out its life until it moved on to my nephew.
Last Friday, I had to go to my parents' house to begin the final process of cleaning it out. I worked throughout the morning pulling like items together, choosing items I wanted, and general cleaning. One chore was to clean off the twin bed in the little bedroom and take off the sheets so they could be washed. After moving stacks of pillows elsewhere, I pulled off the worn 1990s comforter, then pulled back the top floral-patterned sheet that had belonged to my grandmother. Sunlight coming through the window hit a shiny object on the fitted sheet. A single penny.
Usually I do no pick up pennies unless they are heads up. It's back luck to pick up a penny that is tales up. But in this case, it was tales up and this was not an ordinary penny. It was one of the pennies with a shield and "one cent" in a banner on the back. I am not sure how the penny got there, but there it was. I took it as a sign from my father. To me, the shield represented protection. I smiled, picked it up, and put it in my jeans pocket.
Next, I pulled off the matching fitted sheet. When I shook it, I heard a tinkling sound. Rummaging through the corner of the sheet, I felt two coins. Grabbing them from the fitted pocket, then opening my palm... Two dimes. I found two dimes. I smiled and put them in my pocket and gave them no further thought.
Until the other night.
Two dimes and a penny. Two dimes and one penny... Twenty-one cents. Twenty-one... The winning number in the card game, Blackjack. A sign from the gambler himself? Maybe. I like to think so.
Then something else struck me. The trilogy. Two dimes and one penny. The dimes represent my parents and the penny is me. Found in the bed my parents gave me, neatly tucked between the flat and fitted sheets. The dimes were worth more and had greater value then the penny. The penny represented luck and protection as reflected in the shield.
Yes, I am a lucky penny to have had two great dimes.
CSM
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