Three COINS For the Toutin'

Almost a Windfall, Never Been Tried. That was my alternate title, but I couldn't fit the word COIN or CENTS into it. You'll have to read to the end (no skipping!) to see what I mean.

I was growing concerned about my lack of opportunistic coinage this week, until WEDNESDAY, August 18, when I discovered one by the door in the Backroads Casey's.

 

There it was, lolling beside an ice-filled cooler containing I'm pretty sure a beverage other than the advertising on it of Michelob Ultra. It's not like you can grab a cold one and swill it in your vehicle. That's illegal, even here in Missouri.

 

It was a heads-up 2004 penny, looking mighty rough, and unsuitable for spending at--wait a minute! I'm getting ahead of myself on that alternate title explanation.

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THURSDAY, August 19, I was in Sis-Town for my regular errands, and a funeral. Wouldn't you know, at the Casey's, on my first stop after the funeral, two pennies were waiting for me.

 

I was itching to photograph them and pick them up, but the gal behind that register was flitting around doing nothing. So I had to do my business at the register on the left, all the while worrying that somebody else was going to nab my rightful pennies! They minded their manners, though, as I paid for $30 of gas to fill half of T-Hoe's tank, and scratchers.

 

Both were heads-up. A 1994, and a 1975. Two very good years. The year of Genius's birth, and the beginning of my VALedictorian year.

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Here's the story of the alternate title...

The Gas Station Chicken Store has a plexiglass shield on the counter. Lately, it has begun to look like the screen of a cable news network. So much signage tacked around the barrier that you can barely see through to the cashier. The newest sign is printed in large font, and states that this establishment will no longer accept coins that are dirty, tarnished, crusty, oily, sticky, etc., and also prohibits WET dollar bills or other denominations of currency. There is a bullet list, in large font!

Anyhoo... Friday, I noticed, through a crack in the main plexiglass portion, and the smaller side plexiglass barrier, a glass bowl, about the size of a small goldfish bowl, half full of COINS! Dirty coins! Tarnished coins. Crusty coins.

"Oh! Is this the example for the kind of coins you don't want now?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"I mean...  the kind of coins that WOMAN OWNER doesn't want now, heh, heh!"

"You got that right."

Val is no Jimmy Carter. But I admit that like his in-heart adultery... I coveted those coins with my eyes. I don't think I could have grabbed them without toppling both plexiglass shields. And I'm pretty sure that any employee or do-gooder customer could have caught me before I reached T-Hoe. So I didn't attempt a heist. So close, but yet so far! That was at least three years worth of Fortune for me!

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That's 3 COINS this week, for 3 CENTS added to Val's Future Pennyillionaire Fortune.

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2021 RUNNING TOTAL

Penny       # 86, 87, 88.
Dime         still at 11.
Nickel       still at 4.
Quarter    still at 5.

2020 TOTALS
Penny     134
Dime        25
Nickel      10
Quarter      1
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