Crazy Squared

Most of you who are reading this have at one point or another found a penny on the sidewalk (and probably subsequently given it to me for entry on the spreadsheet). Therefore you know the little twinge of excitement such a find brings. And forget finding anything silver...that will probably be cause for a celebration dance in the street and a text message to at least four people. This is what makes us fans of the Penny Project...and it is also what makes people who don't know why we pick up dirt-encrusted coins from the gutter think we are crazy.

I sometimes wonder what outsiders think when they see me shuffling along, perched on the edge of the sidewalk, scanning with all my might for a cent or two that may have fallen from the pocket of the last person to feed the meter. And I really wonder what the people standing in the checkout lines at Whole Foods think when I ask if they mind me picking up the pennies they're standing on. Not that I care, mind you...but I do wonder. I should start giving them the Penny Project business cards so they don't think I'm a total loon. But then again, being a weird eccentric with a penny-obsession is sort of fun!

But the times I am the most concerned about not only being perceived as crazy but actually having the men in the white coats called to come take me away (actually take US away) is when I'm walking home from work with Illeny and we find a penny. And God help everyone on the sidewalk if we find something bigger! Sometimes the only reason I think I make it through my walks home during the long, cold winter months is that I have Illeny with me (and of course our regular stop at Whole Foods to sample the olive bar and troll for pennies in the checkout lines). The chat and friendly competition to find pennies makes the long walk pass quickly.

The other night we were walking home in the bitter cold, later than usual and not enjoying the brisk night wind at all. Then out of the corner of her eye, Illeny spied a shiny copper penny. The finger pointed and the shout followed. "Penny!" she cried! I jumped to the side a little to get it out of her way. When she finds a penny, she means business! There were two gentlemen on the sidewalk with us and the commotion caused a bit of a stir. But nothing like the stir caused a second later when I shouted, "Dime!" and jumped into the street to recover the sucker. Illeny had seen it too and was heading for it, but knew I called it (and picked it up first)...so she was a bit bummed.

The laughter and discussion that ensued must have been quite curious to anyone who didn't know what was going on...lots of talk about pennies rarely being alone, we knew there had to be others when she saw that first one, etc. It was certainly not something for an amateur to get involved in, for sure. But one of the guys couldn't help himself. He looked at me and asked, "Did you find a dime?"

Uh, yeah. What was your first clue...that I screamed the word "dime" at the top of my lungs before lunging into the street? Thanks for playing, Mr. Obvious.

But what came out of his mouth next was what really got me. He was clearly certifiable for trying to get between two screaming girls and their found money...but he had to let us know how important he was to this particular situation. So he piped up and said, "Well, that's my dime. I dropped it there this morning."

Excuse me...what? Are you trying to reclaim a dime you dropped 10 hours ago? No...I don't think so. I really wanted to say, "Well, it's not yours now, is it?" But instead I just looked at him like he was the crazy one. And clearly he was crazy if thought I was handing that dime over to him!