“Opal,” he said, “where did you get this?”
He sent it to a national grading company to be authenticated. It took six weeks.
It was real.
A 1943 bronze Lincoln cent. One of only a few dozen known to exist.
It sold at auction in March for $204,000.
Lorelei paid off her medical debt and bought the little house on Juniper Street. She put money in a fund for Micah’s college. She started treatment at a better kidney center in Indianapolis and got on the transplant list.
She tried to give me half.
I said no.
She tried to give me a quarter.
I said no again.
Then she said, “Then let me give you something you can’t say no to.”
Micah walked into the room holding a small velvet box. Inside was a single gray penny.
“It’s a 1943 steel one,” he said proudly. “From Grandpa’s jar. It’s not worth anything. But it’s the same year. So now you have one too.”
