The Coin

It has been 2 hours since I found the coin.

Scurrying to work in my typical fashion, wearing the same scrubs I wore on my last shift at the office. They smelled fine, and frankly I was just too tired to care. Then, everything changed. As I was stepping onto the subway platform, I noticed a shiny silver dollar just lying on the ground. Picking it up I noticed the word “no” scratched into the surface of the coin, and it made me smile. Dad always called me his “NONO girl” partially because it was short for Nola and partially because I was always up to something I shouldn’t have been. Suddenly, I felt lucky.

It has been 5 hours since I found the coin.

Being called into the boss’ office 20 minutes into a shift was typically not the way one wants to start their day. Walking into Dr. Whatley’s office, I noticed all of the teeth molds and pictures of grinning children all over the walls and the desk. He even had a “smiling is the best” sticker stuck to the cover of his little black book, which I assumed he used as a planner. I have worked at this dental office for three years now, and I’ve been doing a good job I thought. Dr. Whatley smiled at me with all of his bright white teeth and asked me a series of pointless questions about job satisfaction. Next thing I knew, he was offering me a promotion with a $20,000 bonus! Wow today really was my lucky day.

It has been 9 hours since I found the coin.

Extra spring in my step, I trotted home from work stopping to take in the beauty of the city. I needed that win today. I needed that money. Galloping up the steps of my apartment complex like a quarter horse who just won the Kentucky Derby, I noticed my handsome neighbor Seth emerging from his apartment wearing his night running gear. I smiled shyly and waved at him as I usually do, expecting him to keep walking as he normally does. Today was different though. He smiled and stopped to ask me out to a coffee this weekend. ME! This IS my lucky day.

It has been 14 hours since I found the coin.

Twirling the “no” coin in my fingers, I thought about the events of the day. The promotion…the date. Everything I had been wishing for these last months was coming true. Life was finally falling into place. I couldn’t help feel the tiniest bit uneasy about the whole thing, really. A tightening in my chest that I had noticed earlier that afternoon was returning, seemingly stronger. Call me superstitious, but doesn’t everything come with a catch? “Ain’t nothing free” as my grandpa Charlie used to always say. Not today though, today was lucky.

It has been 23 hours and 45 minutes since I found the coin.

Fidgeting with the coin in my coat pocket, I set out the familiar stretch to work. Passing the bustling bakery and coffee shop while waving at the florist, Mrs. Dansby, watering her daffodils. The chest tightness was back with a vengeance this morning. Seems as though my luck was running out; I have stepped in two puddles and cracked the screen on my phone this morning. Hope that doesn’t indicate how the rest of my day is going to go. Today didn’t seem lucky.

It has been 23 hours and 59 minutes since I found the coin.

The pain was overwhelming. Crushing chest pain that dropped me to my knees. Clutching and gasping for air, I’m on the ground. Like a flash of genius, in that last moment of life it all made sense. The “no” on the coin. The fake “luck,” and now the curse. Clearly someone had been trying to warn me not to pick up the coin at the station. In the middle of the gut-wrenching pain, just as people rushed to my side to help, the coin slipped out of my fingers on to the pavement and rolled. Rolled like it was running from me. It has done what it came to do. I watched it as it bounced off shoes and was kicked around. And that was when I saw it, the gorgeous Seth from next door reaching down to pick it up as I tried to whisper “no.” The sound of the ambulance and all of the people trying to help me was too great. No one could hear my scream that came out more of a whisper. The coin belonged to him now, or him to the coin.

It has been 1 minute since Seth found the coin. I hope it works out better for him than it did for me.