Daily Cascade

Penny on the Pedestal

Prompt:
Write a short story that imagines a different life for the copper-plated coin, perhaps a universe in which all dormant pennies are suddenly used or an attempt to collect and dispose of them is put into place. What would propel your characters to care about the worth of a penny?

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Penny on the Pedestal

I was thrown into a dusty drawer and forgotten about. In time, my copper face faded and I was worn out, although I told stories of the decades past, nobody heard me except for the papers with scribbles on them, written possibly by a kid who was doing homework. Those notes thought they had something over me, something scholarly. So I sighed and began keeping to myself. Now, I was just another forgotten trinket, alone and barely surviving.

Except, the only life came to me and the notes from the outside, through some shoddy housekeeping. Then, this one break, the best ever, happened on one perfect day! That day, the maid who dusted the place opened the drawer, but a second or two later, the phone rang, and the maid hurried away, leaving our drawer stay open a crack.

That night, as I was humming a tune to myself, I felt a strange energy enveloping me, and I noticed a light streaming through the crack. Then, one of the notes in the drawer rustled, voicing what was written on it. *"The crack on your wound is the place where the light enters you."

Well, the crack wasn't on my faded face, but I guess, for the light to enter, any crack will do. That was when the drawer flew open and, wonder of wonders, I saw it! I saw that glorious light coming in from the blue-tinted moon and enveloping me. I felt a swirling vortex open under me, lifting me into the air.

Instantly, I was in a strange place where the sky shimmered in shades of purple and the ground under me glittered in gold. I rolled along, feeling dizzy but joyful, among many other creatures who were carrying orbs and shards of light. Suddenly, a humanlike figure appeared.

That figure was something or someone unimaginable! He shimmered brilliantly and his robe of stardust rustled as he moved in it. He picked me up, twirled me around, and studied me with much delight.

"Oh, a relic from the Forgotten Realm," he muttered.

He took me to a very busy, crowded place with beings quite like him. He placed me on a pedestal in the center of what I thought looked like the Times Square where, during my youth, I had been a change, passed from hand to hand.

This being, then, announced to everyone, "This is a priceless coin. It came from a world long lost to time. Now, its worth is beyond any value, since it is a treasure from a universe that no longer exists."

As many beings from across this universe, with eyes wide with awe, gathered around and watched me, I began appreciating my own value, something I had never thought I had in the old world. This new value of mine was irreplaceable. It carried the applause of history, of time, and of stories untold.

So this is my new life. I'm no longer a forgotten copper coin in a drawer. I am a symbol. A symbol of worth far greater than I had ever imagined.


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* "The crack of the wound is the place where the light enters." -- Rumi