As Luck Would Have It...

I found it lying on the concrete near my front left tire.

It had so much grime caked on it I almost didn’t notice it. If it weren’t for the recognizable circular shape, I probably would have walked passed it. Gotten into my car and driven off none the wiser. There’s no way of knowing how long it had been there. No way to know whose pocket it fell out of.

I picked it up and scraped off the gunk to reveal the year. It said 1993. I’m not sure why I needed to know this. It’s not like it would make it be worth more. It’s a penny. The poorest coin we have. A stupid penny. Not even made out of copper. Not even worth one cent if melted down. But there it was in my hand. It’s new owner.

As I opened my car door and sat inside, I studied the gunk. What was all this black stuff? Tar? Old gum? Dried oil? I wondered how many people in the last fourteen years held this exact penny in their hand and contributed to its cocoon of dirt. How many lives this penny has passed through. One cent means more to some than it does others.

Even though it’s worth so little, people believe in its good fortune.

As I sat in my car with one foot still on the ground, I turned the penny over several times… as if the other side was going to look differently than it did 1.3 seconds before. I wondered how many times each day a penny is found by someone who believes in its luck.

I’m not one who believes in luck – although I use the word quite often. Keep your multicolored rabbits feet. A four leaf clover is what it is. I don’t have pictures of elephants on my walls or believe in the magic of a shooting star.

And I certainly don’t believe in the power of the penny.

Which is probably why I made the decision. Decided to give in. Take a chance. I took the road most traveled and I recited that age old saying. The same one I learned as a little girl – back when I also believed my Wonder Woman bracelets would rid off evil. No one’s ever said that saying it brings bad luck, so I had nothing to lose. I held it in my hand, closed my eyes and said it…

“Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.”

It felt silly. I chuckled as I tossed the dirty coin into my car’s cup holder which contains a billion others just like it. A billion other wishes gone unwished. Driving down the street I thought “Is it really luck if you’ve asked for it?”

Dissecting the saying brought even more questions.

“You’ll have good luck” should really be “I’ll have good luck.” Sounds to me like I’m giving the luck to someone else. And it doesn’t say what to do with the penny afterwards. Can I throw it back down on the ground and still remain lucky? If I use it to pay for a Quarter Pounder, am I just forfeiting my chance at luck? Does saying “…and all day long…” mean I have to keep it for 24 hours? Or can I keep it until I feel the luck is all used up? Or maybe until I find another penny and pick it up?

I pulled into a gas station, got out of my car and immediately stepped into a big puddle. And I was wearing sandals. Not too lucky. And a later I received a nice little speeding ticket. And pennies are supposed to be lucky? Maybe I should have shown Mr. Policeman my penny. I’m sure he would have understood.

I’m not too sure how much luck this fake copper penny holds, but I wonder if I still have those Wonder Woman bracelets.