A Penny for your Thoughts

Apparently, this is the most amazing thing ever written. Enjoy.

Our journey begins in the change return slot of the Coke machine in the northernmost hallway of Lakeside Mall. In it lies three magnificent quarters and a measly penny. This particular penny’s name is Franklin, not that anyone had ever cared to ask him. No one would even look at him for more than a moment as they removed him from their less humble change and dropped him back into the slot. In fact, he had been in this particular slot for almost a month now.


Being just a penny, this sort of treatment was nothing new to Franklin. He always found himself being kicked behind a piece of furniture, buried under a sea of much larger coins, or lost in a junk drawer somewhere. Once, he spent an entire fifteen years tucked under the rear passenger floor mat in an old, beat up Volkswagen. No one ever seemed to miss him or even notice that he was gone. Of course, Franklin didn’t want to be treated this way. He wanted to be respected like the other coins. He wanted people to notice that he existed.


One day, someone did notice him. It was a coin collector who happened to remove the four coins from the Coke machine on this day. Taking a quick look at Franklin, the collector could immediately tell that he was special. Franklin didn’t know this, but he was a rare 1955 Double Die penny. Franklin now spends the bulk of his time in a velvet lined showcase, admired every day.