2014/2015
Vol. 10

The Coin

1973; Buffalo, New York, USA; Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Gary was seven years old, and it was the summer of 1973. He was in a hotel lobby in Buffalo, New York. He wanted a nutty, crunchy Zagnut bar from the hotel vending machine. He was on a family vacation that went from Buffalo, New York, to Canada. Gary had a pocket full of rare coins that his grandfather had given him. And he really wanted that candy bar. However, he didn’t have any regular money. All he had in his pocket were his rare coins.

“I don’t want to spend them, but it’s only ten cents, and I have a rare ten-cent coin,” he thought to himself. When Gary’s parents were checking into the hotel, there was nobody watching him, so he traded in his rare ten-cent coin for a U.S. dime at the counter. Then he spent the coin on the candy bar.

Gary devoured the whole thing in less than five minutes. Then he started to worry. He worried that someday somebody would ask to see his rare coin. He got sad, too, because he had lost a part of his rare coin collection. “I wish I could get my coin back,” he sobbed.

Later in the vacation, Gary was in Canada. He went to another hotel. In the hotel there was another vending machine. This time his mom gave him a one-dollar bill. He had to trade in the one-dollar bill because the machine would accept only coins, so he went to the lobby and traded his one-dollar bill for some coins. When he was looking through the coins, in the pile was his rare ten-cent coin that he had traded away in Buffalo, New York.

The chances of this happening would be like winning the lottery. Gary’s wish did come true. Getting that candy bar wasn’t the right thing to do, but making mistakes is part of life, especially if you’re a child. Sometimes when you make mistakes, you can get a second chance.

Lena Podbielski, daughter of Gary; New Jersey, USA

Illustrator: Olivia Gravette; Missouri, USA

This copyrighted story and illustration may be copied for limited classroom use or reprinted in an article about The Grannie Annie.

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