The Penny (draft)

When returned from the restroom, Johnny saw the penny on his chair at the dinner table he was sitting. Its copper shined underneath the florescent lights of the diner as it ominously stared at him as it sat on the red vinyl-cover chair. He was far enough away from the penny that he couldn’t tell if it was heads up, or tails up. This moment in time will can make his life wondrous or wretched.

“Oh no.” That was all he could manage to say as he looked at the penny.

Patron after patron noticed as Johnny stood in the middle of the antiquated diner’s aisle. Silence waved away from where he stood. The clank of forks, knives and spoons hit dishes – one even broke as it fell from a waitress’s hand – as everyone paused and waited. They wanted, or rather needed, to know if the penny was good luck or bad luck.
He took a step toward his seat, everyone gasped. With his second step, they exhaled.

It’s been a generation since Archbold, Ohio had been cursed by the penny. No one knows why or how, but it first appeared several years ago when a young woman found a tails up penny sitting on her chair at the public library. As the story goes, she had gone to look for a book and when she returned to her seat. A penny was in the middle of the wooden chair. She asked people around her if someone sat in her spot, or if they placed the penny there. No one saw anyone there and she packed up her things and left. As soon as she left, though, the wind picked up. It knocked down a large tree branch and hit her in the head.

Newspaper reports stated that if the tree branch would have hit her an inch away, she would have survived. She was found, though, clutching the penny.

The next day, a man was at work asking who placed a heads up penny in his seat after returning from the copier. Like the woman, he asked who placed it on his chair. No one knew. Placed the penny on his desk and decided to check the lottery numbers. He pulled out his ticket after pulling up the lottery website on his computer. He let out a wild scream as his numbers matched indicating he won $250,000,000.

The photo in the paper showed him kissing his “lucky” penny.

Back-to-back days of stories about pennies – one disastrous, one miraculous – got the town talking. Ever since then, people in Archbold paused before they saw a penny sitting on a chair because they knew their lives would change – either for the very good or the very bad.

Not all who have gotten a tails up penny had died. Some have been severely maimed, others financially ruined. And likewise, not all who found heads up pennies hit the lottery; some went on to professional success. No one knows why or how the pennies get to the chairs, or why they show up with such randomness.

Johnny took a second step forward and could make out Lincoln’s head. The 27-year-old released the breath he held, and then the rest of the people in the restaurant. The bustle of the noon lunch went back to normal but only for a few minutes. That’s when a woman’s scream.

“Nooooo! No, no, no, no!” She rapidly shook her head covering her mouth with her fingers. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she trembled. The restaurant’s patrons were immediately silenced again.

The 35-year-old single woman glared at the shiny new tails up penny.

Johnny looked over at the woman. He could see the horror, the devastation in her face. Then he looked down at the penny he now held in his hand. That sparkling round copper-based penny held something great inside it which was just for him. It could be fame, luck, fortune that would come to him soon.

Johnny navigated the crowd of human statues to the woman who stood in shock, fearful of touching the penning that still lay on the seat. When Johnny picked up her penny, a quiet chatter erupted. He inspected her penny, then looked at his.

“You know – .” He paused looking at the woman.

“Julie.” She managed to say her name in between loud sobs.

“You know, Julie. This has never happened before – two pennies being found in the same place at virtually the same time.” Johnny held up his penny, showing her its head. “Let’s see what happens.”

The crowd, which had begun to quiet down, had began its hushed chatter again as Johnny held the face of his penny to the tail of Julie’s penny.

“Wait.” Julie stopped Johnny. “You can’t give up your future for me.”

Johnny winked at the woman and pressed the two pennies together.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a draft version of "The Penny"