Take a Penny

I’ve been retired for a few years now. They’ve been good years. I liked working in the shop well enough but now I get to do what I really love every day. Let me break down my daily schedule and my hobby for simplicity’s sake.

1. Each morning I go to the Speedway next to the apartment where I'm staying. I know it’s not ideal to spend one’s golden years in an apartment but I’ve always been thrifty and I like to live a relatively stripped back lifestyle. Anyway at Speedway I buy a doughnut for a dollar and ninety cents which I purchase with two crumpled dollar bills.

2. The guy behind the counter gives me a penny back and I place it into my pocket. I then make small talk with him about the weather or whatever has been in the news. I don’t enjoy this but I’m old and he’s too polite to shut me up so it’s a fun little game. Still it is not my favorite game. I’ll get to that soon enough.

3. I walk around town while eating the glazed doughnut I have purchased. I’m on the lookout for a tall building with a view of the street below. When I find one that suits my needs I walk to the roof and watch the people of my city from above. It makes me feel like batman or someone about to commit suicide. It’s really very lovely.

4. I retrieve the penny from my pocket. It drops to the ground below me.

5. I wait. Sometimes it’s only a few seconds. Sometimes it's ages. Eventually someone bends down and pockets the penny I have gifted out into the universe. They chuckle to themselves that it’s their lucky day or something that effect. They are wrong. Usually it’s an older fellow like myself who takes the penny. Sometimes it’s someone young fast, and strong. That always makes for more of a challenge. Still every time I catch them eventually. Some people take longer than others but no one is as careful as they should be…

6. When I do catch them I take the penny back. I also take parts of them but that’s too personal to get into with strangers. Sometimes they of course have separated from the penny when I get to them in which case I just take a penny from the take a penny jar during my morning visit. Regardless I add the penny to my change jar and the memory of the kill gets filed away in the back of my mind as something to bring me joy when the world becomes too cold.

My change jar contains nearly a dollar in pennies.I suspect it will only become fuller the longer I live. My advice to you is to leave change where you find it and always keep occupied with a hobby as they can bring invaluable pleasure.