Takara Hamilton

Pretty Penny

     There wasn’t ever much noise where I worked. If there was, it was the sound of car engines or people talking in the distance. I day dreamed for most of the day, that is until someone rolled up to my window to pay for their parking. It had been a horrible day at the Holiday Inn parking lot and I had a night shift that did not end until three a.m. I always hated the night shifts. Even with the lock on the door of the booth I was in, which separated me from the outside world, I was still quite nervous being in a parking lot alone. Two hours after my shift started I began to drift asleep.


            “Hello” A voice echoed from a distance waking me out of my sleep.


            “Oh, yes, may I help you” I stuttered as I tried to straighten up and look professional. I looked to my right expecting what I thought would be someone paying for their ticket, but it wasn’t. Standing at only 4 ft tall was a tiny boy dressed in his pajamas


             “May I help you?” I asked.


             “Not really, but can you do something for me?” he responded. I looked down at him and began to question why he was out alone, in the middle of the night.


              “Yes I can. What do you need?”


               “I have a letter for you, but you have to promise not to read it until I leave.”


     I took the letter and the boy walked out of the parking lot. When he was gone I opened the letter that read:


From Davey,
     “I live across the street, I see you working here all the time. I can tell it’s not a fun job and you hate it. My mom said you are a college student trying to make a pretty penny. I never understood why you couldn’t just find a penny and clean it. So I got the best looking penny I could find and cleaned it until it sparkled. Now you don’t have to work anymore.”


     When I looked at the bottom of the envelope there was a bronze shiny penny. At that moment, a smile took over my face that marked the day; I had made a pretty penny.








[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2012 EDITION]


Copyright © 2002-2010 Student Publishing Program (SPP). Poetry and prose © 2002-2010 by individual authors. Reprinted with permission.