Bad Penny Makes Good

From Sidewalks to Laundromats

After I stared at it a moment, I wondered don't I know it... That may very well be that same darned penny from yesterday. I put my hand in my pocket to make sure I wasn't just thinking things up, and I felt no little coin inside there. I'll be! It had to be the very same brown penny. I must'a pulled something out of that pocket...or do something to get that thing to slip out of there.

When I got back in my room I checked and there weren't no holes in any of them pockets. And here's the thing. There were people going up and down, that cement, walking along all day. But I was the only one that saw that thing. So I thought how maybe that was something lucky after all. Maybe that little penny was gonna come in handy for me yet.

Later on, I don't really remember when. Well- I know it had to do something about gettin' my clothes washed up. I was living in my own little place while I was goin' to school. Trying to be a college boy and all that. And I thought it would look mighty silly to be going to my... Well, showing up at my folks' to get my darn clothes washed. I was in college and getting all smarted up. It would look downright silly needing to go home just to use a washin' machine.

What'd I do? I should be smart enough to figure one of those things out. And I was. I went down to this tiny laundromat and that's how I got my things clean. Ain't no sense in going home unless I wanted to just pay a little visit. A lot of them other fellahs, they'd get their mama to wash their things or say it was cheaper to use their parents for some soap n' water, but I didn't need that. I was able to stretch out my clothes anyway, as they'd say. That was my own kind of home economics in those days.

That there laundromat was open later than others I suppose, and that's when I'd be inside. I'd get talking in there when one of them'd know me, or I'd reply back when someone said something to be friendly. There was a gal in there that worked in the back doing the whole hog kind of service, the wash and folding kind, or steam press. Whatever a person would want to do with their clothes I suppose. It was optional of course, because none of that sort of stuff was for me. That's also where it cost more for a person. All I'd need was a washer n' dryer. A little bit of detergent soap, and I'd get my things all washed up pretty good in there.

Anyway... That there laundromat was a family kind of business. A mom and pop as they'd say. Most times their daughter would be inside there when it was time to close things up. Things like that. Her mom did all the same stuff. Wash by the pound. Iron. Starch. Whatever someone need for their clothes. All but dry cleaning the stuff. The girl learned by her mother. And that woman's husband owned that whole outfit. So it was all a family business. So I sometimes stayed later anyway, or the husband asked me to. It was a pretty safe place, but anyone seeing a guy like me inside there man anyone think twice before wanting to start any trouble there.

Me and my laundry was in there this one time. And I don't really remember much else. Except for the part where I was watching the clock for my turn to finish up. I was waitin' for the stuff to get all nice and dry, and then I started hearing this sound like I've never heard before. Some kind of clicking noise. Well I didn't know what was going on inside of a machine like that. I didn't do much tinkering or repair sort of things around the house since that was my Pappy did, so I wasn't sure what could be causing that sort of racket. I already had my dime in there, or quarter, so I wasn't fixing to shut the machine off just yet. Not until it stopped all on its own.

All I'd have to show for would be wet clothes and an angry owner if I pried open that dryer and busted the blasted thing in the process. So I decided to nothing but sit there and wait. When I was done, I got all my clothes out, but something was still in there. I figured either it was already in there when I started my turns, or whatever it was must have come off in the middle of it all. I didn't do a lot of clotheswashing when at home, so I didn't have a whole lot of experience with it all or had enough sense to pay a whole lot of mind to them kind of things. When I finally got my fingers around the item making all that fuss inside, I had to give myself a close lookie.

While my hand was all the way inside the dryer, a woman came out from around the corner. Happened to be the wife of the place. A co-owner I suppose one could say. She was either coming out to hear the ruckus from the machine, or suspecting a young guy like me must have been up to some havers with her equipment. And, well... I was just- I was tickled about the whole thing, and I wanted to tell somebody, and and so I told her about what happened and how I was afraid of busting that machine of hers a little while back. She just laughed at me and said that sort of thing happened all the time, but how was I gonna know something like that? She said some of the absent-minded folks would have pockets full of change clanging all around inside those washers or dryers, and so just one coin bouncing around in there wouldn't do no harm to one of those contraptions.

I gathered up all my wearables and got out of there. I surely was glad it wasn't anything awful or serious, but I felt kind of red in the cheeks there for not knowing any better. When I got back to the dormitory room where I was living, I dug into my pocket and gave myself a real look at that culprit from inside the dryer. And didn't I know it -- all over again. One little penny was rolling around and making all that trouble for me. I forgot about that dirty old thing since I left it in the wrong pocket I suppose. They called it a watch pocket as I remember. Supposed to be for putting in a pocketwatch back before my time, but I used that small pocket for a coin keeper and forgot all about it until that little penny escaped.

Now I must say: that little pest of a penny didn't look a lick like I found it out by the road. Both times I found it, for a matter of fact. It got quite a washin' in there and came out looking almost good as if it was new. All that thing had out of joint was a little wearing down one one side around the edge, but I suppose it wasn't that little coin's fault. Probably more of a case when I stepped on it and slid. As much trouble as I thought it already caused me, I was beginning to start liking that little thing, for whatever reason it was. Maybe something inside me felt that penny was going to come in handy one of these days; shiny or not.