Lucky Coin

As luck would have it...

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

When his lucky coin slipped out of his fingers, Jenner dove after it, making a frantic grab. The quarter had other ideas though and hit the ground rolling. It picked up speed, rolling down the hill and off the sidewalk into the grass.

Jenner scrambled after it, crab-like, before realizing he’d be faster running. He was so focused on retrieving his lost quarter he didn’t notice the stares of the people who passed him by on the sidewalk. He had to get that quarter back. His grandfather had given it to him years before. The old man had told him that if he lost it, it would be the death of him. For some reason, Jenner had taken that warning to heart.

He fell to his knees reaching for the coin just as it disappeared into a small hole that had to be the entrance to some animal’s burrow. No! He tried reaching into the too-small opening but could barely fit in two fingers, let alone his whole hand. He’d have to dig it out.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the only implement available to him—his pocketknife. He started to dig into the ground, dry and hard from the summer heat, the tiny blade of his knife barely making a dent. After several minutes of futile effort, he gave up, sitting heavily on the grass. He stared at the hole, willing his coin to appear.

Jenner had just decided to walk the six blocks back home for a shovel when the coin shot from the hole straight up into the air. Despite his shock, he grabbed it as it plummeted back toward the earth, hardly believing his eyes.

A tiny being—not quite human, but not exactly not—emerged from the hole. It shook a tiny fist at him, all the while rubbing its head where the coin had obviously struck it. Jenner didn’t understand the language it chittered at him, but he was pretty sure if he had it would have been what his mother called “blue.”

The creature gave a final shake of its miniature fist and disappeared back into the hole. Jenner gaped for only a moment before, clutching his lucky coin tightly, rising to his feet. He checked his watch. He had twenty minutes to make it to his job interview. If he hurried, he might still make it.

As Jenner set off at a brisk walk, his cell phone pinged. And then pinged again. And again. He made sure his lucky coin was deep in his front pocket before pulling his phone from his jacket. What he saw on the screen stopped his feet dead. A series of short, single sentence messages from his wife.

Where are you?

Stay out of downtown.

There’s a shooter.

And then another ping.

Jenner, where are you?

Kerry couldn’t call. She was deaf and only spoke sign language. She must be going out of her mind.

Heart pounding and knees weak as he realized that if it hadn’t been for the mishap with his coin he would have been in the middle of the shooting, Jenner messaged back.

I’m fine. My lucky coin delayed me. Heading home. I’ll explain when I get there.

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This story was built around the words death, hole, and knife. My first thought was to have an object disappear into a hole and someone try to dig it out with a knife. The tiny not-quite-a-human and the shooter scenario didn’t come to me until I was drafting the story. I had initially thought to have a mouse push the coin out, but that didn’t feel exciting enough.

Then I realized I had made the quarter a lucky coin, so I decided the story needed an ending which showed that having lost it was actually lucky. Hence, the shooting scenario. By delaying Jenner, the coin saved his life.

I didn’t want to use dialogue in this story. The only plausible reason I could come up with for his wife texting rather than calling (other than her being downtown and hiding from the shooter) was her being deaf.

And now you know the story and the story behind the story.