Changing a Life

Clark Magnum reached in his pocket, pulled out what change he had, and dropped it in the tip jar at Rosie’s. Rosie’s is a diner on 7th Street, and Clark has lunch in the red and white booths, listening to old tunes on the jukebox every weekday. Sometimes, he bought a milkshake to take back to the office with him.

He knew the waitresses by name. Cyndi would give him a medium shake whenever he ordered a small one.

That night, Rosie divided the tips between the waitresses.

“What’s with the pennies?” asked Ruth, “I don’t want any stupid pennies.”

“Fine. I’ll take them,” grinned Cyndi.

“Go ahead. I don’t have time to mess with pennies.”

Cyndi took the pennies, along with the rest of her tips and started her long walk home. Finally reaching Market Street, on the East side of town, with sore feet and a throbbing head, she reached her home. She passed her teenage boys, arguing over what to get on the pizza, stopping long enough to acknowledge her entrance.

As she walked in her bedroom, knowing they would end up ordering sausage and pepperoni, like they always did, she got in her robe and freed her hair from its ponytail. Cyndi made her way down the hall to rid herself of the remnants of the diner.

Returning to her room, she was rejuvenated and smelling of magnolias rather than greasy french fries. She felt ready to take on whatever the boys had in store for her. As she finished dressing, she heard the doorbell.

She grabbed aspirin from the cabinet and put the pizza on the table with a coaster under one leg.

Looking at the mismatched chairs, she took a deep breath and called out, “Pizza’s here!”

Two boys tripped over each other, trying to get to the kitchen first.

“Sam was cheating…”

“Nuh uh! Josh got in trouble at school…”

“That’s enough,” interrupted Cyndi, “Can’t we just get through a meal before you two start tattling?”

“I wasn’t tattling,” mumbled Sam, “I was just telling you.

With a stern look from his mother, Sam took a paper plate and put two pieces of pizza on it. Pouring a glass of soda, Cyndi tried again.

“Okay. Let’s have a nice meal. How were your days?”

“Well, Josh got in trouble…”

Sam trailed off as Cyndi shot him an exasperated look.

“How was your day?” she asked.

“It was good. I got a B on my report, and I beat Josh on the game system.”

“You cheated,” yelled Josh.

“I did not. You just suck,” Sam yelled back.

Cyndi shook her head, took her pizza to the living room, and plopped on the couch. She found a romantic comedy and turned the volume up until she could hear it over the bickering coming from the kitchen.

After the movie, Cyndi decided to separate the boys and put them both to work. She told Sam to do the dishes and set Josh to separating her tip money for school lunches the next week.

After a while, she heard Josh call, “Hey, Mom.”

Cyndi left the laundry she was sorting and went to see what was going on now.

“Look at this penny, Mom. It looks weird.”

“What’s weird about it?

“It doesn’t look like a regular penny. Maybe you should have Grandpa look at it. He likes old money.”

Cyndi picked up the penny and saw the wheat stalks bookending the back. She had learned enough from her dad to know that they were rare but not enough to know how much it was worth. She would take it to her parents’ house when they went for Sunday dinner.

She placed it in her coat pocket and promptly returned to sorting laundry.

She nearly forgot the penny in her pocket on Sunday, but Josh was too excited to let that happen.

“Hey, mom, what about the penny? You didn’t show it to Grandpa.”

“A penny?” her father quizzed, nearly glowing at the prospect, “What penny?”

“Just a wheat penny that Josh found in the midst of my tips. I know it’s rare, but it can’t be worth much, can it?”

“That depends on the year,” her dad said as he shook his head at her ignorance.

“Let me see… It’s 1943.”

Her dad whistled, long and low, “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Why? Is it worth much?”

“It’s one of the rarest. It’s worth more than $100,000!”

Her dad chuckled as she stood there with her mouth agape and dropped her coat on the floor.

“I knew it!” Josh yelled, ”Do you know how many games that will buy?”

“It will buy a lot of games, but we have more important things to spend it on.”

“But I found it…”

“Okay, you can get one game.”

“Sam, we’re getting a new game,” Josh yelled, running into the kitchen where Sam was helping his grandma clear the table.

The bowl Sam was carrying nearly dropped to the floor. “I thought Mom said we didn’t have extra money for a new game.”

“That’s before I found the penny.”

“A penny won’t buy a game.”

“This one will. It’s really old.”

“What’s it worth?” Sam asked, eyes squinting.

“$100,000!”

It was Sam’s turn to stand with his mouth agape.

“What’s she going to do with all that money?”

“I think I heard her say something to Grandpa about college when I left the room.”

Sam stopped and looked worried.

“What’s wrong, honey?” asked his grandma.

“I’m going to have to get my grades up, now.”

On Monday, Clark was sitting in his regular seat at Cyndi’s booth.

“I have a question,” he said, “Did you happen to get a wheat penny in your tips?”

“Yes,” said Cyndi, “Do you want it back?” It was a good thing she hadn’t sold it, yet she thought.

“Nope. It’s yours. I just wanted to make sure whoever got it knew what they had,” he lowered his voice, “Just between us, I was hoping it was you. Consider it payment for all the milkshakes.” He winked and looked back at his menu. “I will have the meatloaf special with a cola,” he said, “The meatloaf here is great.”

It was the best tip Cyndi had ever gotten.