2002-01-19 - 11:19 PM
Loose Change
The other day, while walking down the street, I saw a penny, head-side up, but happened to be too busy to pick it up. It's kind of sad that way. Sometimes in life, we're in such an awful rush, we don't stop to pick up that lucky penny; in too much of a hurry to open a door.
I was nearing the tollbooth on the Turnpike - toll was seventy cents. I dug my hand into the change holder to fetch my seventy cents, only to find two quarters, a dime, and a nickel. "Damn it, I need a nickel." I was really thinking about how much I wanted a dime, because for those of you who know how weird I am with things being nicely tied up, would know that I'd much rather pay with two quarters and two dimes. I looked in my wallet and found no change - I'd have to break my twenty. Until all of a sudden, right before I got to the tollbooth, I decided to check my pocket. I thought, "One chance in a million to find something there." But I did anyways. I put my left hand in my left pocket - and to my surprise - one dime. How nicely tied up was that? It was as if God heard my plea, and placed that one perfect little dime in my pocket, and whispered in my ear to go on and check. What are the odds? How many times has this very thing happened? How many times has things fallen into place, just by taking a chance? Really, what are the odds?
I found an Indian coin once, somewhere in the back, hidden in the mess of the forest. Complaining about the gray sky and the storm to surely come, I hunched over and picked up the coin - marvelled at it and made my way back into the house. As if by magic, the gray sky passed - it became a sunny and clear day, clear night for the stars. I put the coin on the windowsill of my bedroom, kind of my way to let the sun shine down on it. Jersey enjoyed about a week of clear and sunny days - until I came back into my room after school on that Monday, and was greeted by a surprise. The coin was gone. That night, it rained. I believe in coincidence - but sometimes, you just have to believe that there's a magic out there, waiting to give you a story to tell.
Out of sheer boredom, or maybe stupidity, one day, I decided on attempting to cut a quarter in half. I got the quarter, I got the scissors. I placed the quarter in-between the blades, and squeezed with dear might. I then carelessly pinched my finger between the scissor handles, as the quarter flew into the window and created a chip. After letting out certain obscenities, I realized - I guess doing stupid things, will only cause damage and get you hurt.
I have this magic trick that I do, with two quarters. I place a quarter on each of my palms, and show the audience. With the quickness, I turn over my hands, slamming them onto the table - I make somebody pick a hand. I lift up my hands to reveal, that both quarters are now under one hand. "How did you do that?" After a while, I realized that, if you learn one decent magic trick, and do it well, you can captivate people your whole life. I went on to realize that love is as magical as you can get. Do it well, and you can captivate people your whole life.
And really - Love is two coins under one hand.
