The Disappearing Coin

Tommy yelled goodbye to his friends’ downstairs, they were still playing basketball, just like they had been doing for their whole day. He looked outside and he saw the snow that had been there when he was had walked in, but the snow had turned into slush. He walked outside into the early spring night. The stairs down to the driveway were very slippery, almost causing Tommy to fall. As he grabbed his bike, he saw a large animal in the woods. It was big, too big to be a cat or a dog, but what could it be? He immediately jumped on his bike and chased the strange animal. As Tommy chased the animal through the woods, he noticed all the flowers blooming. But Tommy got too distracted, and “OW.” Tommy crashed into a melting snowbank and his face got stuck in a cold bunch of snow. He jumped up, ready to resume the chase, but there was no sign of the animal, Tommy walked around and began to look, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was small and shiny, as the evening sun made it look special in the sunlight. It was on top of the nearest snowbank to Tommy, he walked over to it carefully, trying not to fall like he did last time. He slowly approached it, and the closer he got to it, the brighter it got until it was glowing. By the time that he was one step away from the snowbank, it was an almost blinding light. Tommy squinted at it, trying to make out what it was before he reached for it. He finally got the courage to grab it. It was warm, even though it had been sitting in that melting snowbank for the whole winter, and there was even a little snow on it. Tommy brushed the snow away and he looked at it. It was a gold coin, but it wasn’t a coin that Tommy had ever seen. He sat down and started to examine it, but when Tommy was just starting to look at it, he realized he was late! He stuffed the coin in his back pocket and pedaled home as fast as he could. “What took so long,” his older sister asked. After all, it was her birthday tonight, and they were going to her favorite restaurant. 

“I was just at Mike’s house,” Tommy yelled before he ran to his room. He reached into his back pocket, but right as he did, Tommy’s mom came in and said that he had to get ready.

“In a minute,” Tommy said as he tried to continue with what he was doing. But when Tommy put his hand back in the pocket, it was empty. He was stunned. Did he drop it? Did he put in a different pocket? He checked all of his pockets, but he couldn’t find out. Tommy immediately jumped up to retrace his tracks, but right when he got up, the door opened and there was his mom.

“Time to get ready,” she yelled.

“Ok,” Tommy yelled back.

“Now,” she replied. 

Tommy grabbed his coat and went into the car. Where could it have gone? As soon as Tommy thought of that question he immediately realized that he had the same thought earlier today, with the strange animal. It had disappeared just as fast as the coin had. It didn’t make any sense, at least to Tommy. So, while he was in the car he called Mike to tell him what happened. Of course, Mike didn’t believe him, because there were so many crazy parts to the story. Tommy hung up the phone and thought to himself, but the car had parked and it was time for dinner. Even though Tommy was at his favorite restaurant, eating his favorite food, Tommy was still unhappy. It was there in his pocket but then went right after. And Tommy had a strange feeling that it never fell out. As Tommy lied in bed that night, he thought of how crazy this day had been. It had started as a normal early spring day, but as time went on the weirder it got. When Tommy woke up the next morning the snow and slush were all gone, and Tommy could see the first grass and flowers growing in their garden. Could somehow the sun melted the coin away? What could have possibly happened? He quickly got dressed, grabbed his coat, and ran outside. Tommy picked up his bike and raced over to Mike’s house, trying to move on, but he still couldn’t get his mind off of the coin. He rang the doorbell and Mike’s mom opened the door.

“How are you doing Tommy?” she asked.

“Great,” Tommy replied as he ran past her into the basement. 

Mike, Joey, and Billy were there already. They were playing basketball just like they had been doing for the whole day yesterday. Before Tommy could talk about his amazing discovery, Mike suggested that they go take a bike ride, and Tommy knew the exact way to go. He led his friends through the woods until they finally got to the spot.

 “So this is it?” asked Mike. 

Tommy stood shocked. It was all gone. The snowbank that he had fallen into, the strange animal, and all the snow in the whole forest. 

“I’m sorry,” Tommy said in a regretful tone. “I forgot that all the snow would have melted.”

As the boys finished their bike ride and went back into the basement, they kept playing like they did every day, but Tommy still couldn’t focus. When he got home, his mom was there, guarding the entry. 

“Are you doing OK?” she asked.

“Um.yeah,” he replied, “Why not?”

Tommy took off his shoes, but he realized that he left something in his pocket. But when he put his hand in his pocket, he felt something hard. He lifted it out, and as he was about to look at it he stopped. All this time that he had spent worrying about where it could be he forgot to check his own coat pocket. He opened his eyes and looked. It was a penny. A normal penny made just 3 years ago.