Week 1 Storytelling: Pick Up Your Pennies and Mind Your Mama

Mama always told me that pickin’ up a penny’ll bring good luck. I never did believe her though; least not till the day I died.

Biker Man's Shoes and a Lucky Penny

            The sun was shinin’ and the clouds were nowhere to be seen. I was headed to work down at the factory. I didn’t have a car since all my money these days went to Mama’s hospital bills.

            Course I hated workin’ at the factory, but I never minded walkin’. It was a good way to clear my head and Mama always told me to be a good boy and not get in trouble at work. We needed the money real bad.

            So I was just a walkin’ down the street, humming the song of the same name. What a classic, I tell ya. Anyways, I stopped at the street light just like mama always taught me, and low and behold there was a shiny new penny sittin’ on the ground in front of me.

            “Today’s gonna be a good day!” woulda been Mama’s words had she been with me. I leaned down to pick it up, intent on showin’ it to her that night and sayin’ that today had been no different or better than yesterday.

            But I didn’t get the penny. You see, the light turned green and the crowd behind me pushed me onwards and the penny was lost.

            I didn’t think much of it at the time; it was only a silly penny and I was officially runnin’ late.  I just walked on and didn’t look back.

            Problem was, I didn’t look both ways when I crossed the next road either. Both me and some young lady were crossin’ the road and wham! Outta nowhere this truck shows up and plows me down. Not her, though, cause some young gent snatched her outta the way.

            Layin’ on the ground dyin’, hearin’ only the sound of my body shutting down and nearby sirens, my final thoughts weren’t even of my Mama. I’m sure when she gets to Heaven she’ll give me a good thunk on the head for that one. No, my final thought was that I shoulda picked up that penny.

THE END.

Author's Note: "See a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck; see a pin and let it lay, bad luck you'll have all the day!" The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and Illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1987). Web Source: Gutenberg. For my retelling I just took the proverb and put it into a scenario.