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Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A to Z: P - Penny & Panel

My A to Z Challenge: Flash fiction written using two words and a photo for inspiration. How did I chose the words? First I brought up a noun list for each letter, then averted my eyes, scrolled the mouse down, stopped and double-clicked. That was the word! The second word was chosen the same way but from a dictionary list of words.
NOTE: Photos are from free to use photo sites such as Pixabay.com and Morguefile.com. No attribution necessary.


He stooped and picked up the penny in the parking lot. Most folks would have just left it, but not him. He always picked them up and took them home. He'd lost his wife over twenty years ago, the result of a freak accident. She'd only been twenty-three. A couple of months later he was feeling low and he found a poem that helped him cope.


Ever since then he refused to pass by a penny. He'd picked them up in buses, parking lots, grocery stores. He'd found them in the dirt at the beach, in shopping malls and, of course, in washing machines.

He'd always rub it with his weathered bandana, kiss it lightly and say "Here's to you, my angel. I'm always I'm thinking of you, too." Then he'd put it in his opposite pocket, the one that didn't hold his wallet and keys. When he got home, he'd put it away and smile.

OBITUARY:
Ralph E. Thompson, age 89, died of old age at home on Thursday, January 13, 2018. A lifelong resident of Duxbridge, he lived simply and worked hard.

Ralph was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor. He has no living survivors.

There will be no services.
One month after Ralph died, the demolition crew arrived to tear down his house. He had donated his property to the town for a park with the condition that it be named Eleanor's Angel Penny Park. The crew started inside, salvaging what materials they could for their local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The paneling in the living room revealed quite a surprise. Hundreds of thousands of pennies...

Stay Calm and Read Flash Fiction!

  


12 comments:

  1. Donna, I'm old enough to remember when that penny would buy candy, so I still stoop over and pick them up. They go, along with the other excess coins, into coffee cans. I then cash them at the bank or Publix's coin machine at Christmas time. Other excess coins? Well, I'm a little old man, not a little old lady. Thus, I don't stand at the checkout counter counting out change one coin at a time.

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    1. We save all our change to cash in...usually in the $25 range when we do it.

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  2. He certainly found a lot of pennies from Eleanor over the years! I also pick pennies up when I see them. I try to keep four in my purse so I can count them out at the checkout counter, unlike DC. :) There is only one store in town that regularly uses pennies anymore so I spend them there. Everyone else rounds up or down to the nearest 5 cents.

    Emily In Ecuador | Palo Santo Products Made in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

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    1. Living in Ecuador, you do use a LOT of change. We had little bowls by the door. One for pennies, one for $1 & 50 cents coins and one for nickels, dimes & quarters. Always grabbed some when we went out.

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  3. In the region where we live now (KZN Southcoast) the local residents believe it unlucky to pick up a coin. We noticed that, during certain religious festivals, the residents leave coins in the rock pools on the beach where it remains until the tide takes it out to sea. Out of respect for their beliefs we also refrain from picking up any coins. www.hesterleynel.co.za

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  4. That's a very lovely story, Donna. The poem is perfect as well. I'm sure Ralph's wife did keep sending him all those pennies.

    P is for Perfection

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    1. Thanks for stopping by to read & comment. It was a fun write with a bit of personal history wrapped in.

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  5. Love this one. I pick up pennies too but never thought of them like that. I will from now on!

    Janet’s Smiles

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    1. My husband of almost twenty years passed in 2004 and someone sent me this poem. From that point on, every penny I saw was picked up and a thank you sent out to him. The first year after he passed, there were several times I really wished he were with me (I was traveling the US by motorcycle) and several times a penny would pop up just afterwards.

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  6. Aww! Love this. I had heard this saying before. Such a lovely sentiment. Keep up the A to Z!!

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    1. Thanks, Laura! Plowing through the last of the letters...working on V now. Phew!

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