The immortal super penny

So I'm helping my son wrap coins the other day and he finds a 1941 wheat penny. As I looked down at this copper beauty, my writer's imagination kicked in gear.

If this penny could talk, what would it tell me about the places it has been? What would this penny say about the thousands of different things it has helped purchase through 75 years of existence?

Well, how about we let this penny tell us a few stories about its long journey to my table.

"I was born in 1941 as a member of 87 million one centers who were just like me. You'd think there'd be a lot of us still around today, but not so. In fact, you might have to pay as much as $5 for me at a coin auction because I'm in pretty good shape for my age.

"In the first year of my life, my country declared war against both Germany and Japan. Franklin Roosevelt was our president. Joe Louis was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world and Captain America appeared in his first comic book.

"That year, if you added me to 11 more of my brothers and sisters, you could get a gallon of gas. A loaf of bread would cost you eight of my kind while a quarter, a nickel, plus me and one more copper cousin would get you a quart of milk. If you wanted to send a letter, triple my kind and you bought the stamp to go on the envelope."

"I've moved around a lot in my 75 years. I've been in thousands of cash registers, countless pockets and purses as well as inside piggy banks, and bedroom drawers. I've also spent some time lounging in hundreds of neighborhood banks."

"The tooth fairy used to put me under a child's pillow, but then I was laid off from that job after she hired the nickel and then the quarter in the 1960s.

"Speaking of the '60s, I once spent a whole year inside a slot on top of a brown shoe they called a penny loafer.

"One time, I was dropped on a dirt road in Kansas by a little boy. I stayed there choking on dust for weeks. People would pass me by, but no one picked me up. Then one day a man kicked me and I turned over to show him my Honest Abe. He said, 'Ah, a good luck penny!' Into his pocket I went.

"As time passed, more and more people cared less about me. They called me 'worthless' except when a kid would toss me into a wishing well or a woman would get aggravated when her bill came to $5.01 and she had to rummage around the bottom of her pocketbook to find me.

"I did have a really great time in an Atlantic City casino. A woman dropped me and four of my friends into a slot machine. Bells sounded. Lights flashed, I wasn't worthless that day. She won a jackpot filled with more money than my buddies and I would ever think could come from just five of us.

"There's been talk by the government to stop making my kind and to run us out of circulation. I certainly hope that never happens. I mean look at all the good that I have done and the impressions I've made on the culture of this country.

"I was once a coin that hundreds of children from all over this land threw upon a general store counter to buy their first pieces of candy.

"I have one the greatest presidents of this nation in Abraham Lincoln on my face.

"I am mentioned in popular sayings like, 'it was worth every penny' or 'I'll give you a penny for your thoughts.'

"Right now I found my way to this writer's table. His son was going to wrap me up with 49 others like me to help him buy a video game, but suddenly he gave me back to his father.

" 'Hey dad,' he said. 'This penny's really old. Let's keep it. Someday it might be worth a lot more than it is today.'

"See? I'm not worthless.

"Like good wine, I just get better with age."

Rich Strack can be reached at katehep11@gmail.com.