You’re walking around your neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon. It’s warm outside, with a little breeze. You have some light blue jeans on, with a black tee and a gray sweater. You decided to go on a walk after waking up at 12:30 pm. You have nothing to do, since you finished going through your emails yesterday, but you still have to get back home before night, since you have to wake up early tomorrow for work. As you’re walking around, you’re looking at the flowers and plants that grow from the sidewalk concrete, something shiny catches your eye: a shiny penny. You know that one single penny isn’t going to help you buy a candy bar, nor will you lose anything from grabbing it. You pick it up, observing it in your hand, then putting it between your fingers and looking at it from side to side. You realize that this penny has no dirt or rust on it, despite laying flat on the slightly inclined sidewalk. You smile, thinking to yourself how often you see pennies, dimes, quarters, and sometimes even $1 coins on the sidewalk, without ever stopping to think of the funny situations that would have led to somebody dropping coins on that particular sidewalk.
Someone could’ve been putting coins in their wallet, and then tripped over that tilted piece of concrete that sticks out, dropping their coins on the floor. Then, in an act of embarrassment, picked up as many coins as they could while leaving some behind.
Someone could’ve had their coins in their tight jeans pockets, and when they tried to get something else from their pockets, accidently scattered some coins outside their pocket.
Someone could’ve been walking with their toddler in a stroller, and gave them some coins to play with, only to have that toddler throw them onto the concrete for fun.
You chuckle to yourself, still holding that penny in your hand, then putting it in your pocket as a memento. You then realize that you need to hurry back home, and run back to your house. After turning and running past people, you get home to make dinner and get ready for the next day. You’re emptying out your pockets to take out your wallet and keys, and realize that there’s something missing, specifically that penny you thought you put in your back pocket. You smile to yourself, realizing that the penny is meant to always be on the sidewalk, for someone else to find, and for that same person to lose it, only for the cycle to repeat itself again and again.
You wonder to yourself finally, how long has that penny been actually there? The answer to that question could be as hilarious as 50 years or as disappointing as 3 minutes, but either way, the penny stays in its rightful place.
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