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Lunch Money
Fall foggy morning…
from the curb where mom dropped me off that morning I couldn't see
the school building through the fog. I was late. Perhaps first time
I'd ever been late for school. I was five or six years old. Usually
all the kids would play until the bell rang and then assemble in
straight line to enter Monroe school while teacher stood by.
This morning was
very different… I couldn't see anything… the school playground and
building were obscured by the dense fog…
Bravely walking
through the fog I knew where to go though I could barely see the
school entrance… I wasn't the only one late that morning. Classmate,
Paul, twice my size found the door same time I did. I wondered why
Paul was so big… but now was not the time to speculate. The sight of
Paul's towering presence emerge though the fog startled me and
caused me to lose grip of the coins held in my mitten… it was my
lunch money…
I heard the coins
hit the pavement… my little heart struck with fear as I knelt down
to find the lost coins… I took off my mittens and felt all over the
pavement around me recovering several coins…
I was too young to
know the denomination of quarters, nickels, and dimes… I worried
that I hadn't found them all and would be turned away in the lunch
line not having enough money. Feeling badly… knowing my mom had
given me the precise amount, I dutifully placed the coins found in
the pocket of my slacks and entered the school worried that I might
not have found all the coins.
Class time past and
soon lunch hour arrived… nervously taking my place in line I worried
that the money I recovered was insufficient for my meal. Shuffling
my tray along the cafeteria line accepting the meal offered and milk
in wax coated container I grew all the more nervous as my time came
to pay.
Offering all the
coins in my pocket to the lady at the register I was greatly
relieved when she received it and passed me on to the next child in
line. That lunch tasted better than all the others that year. I
never dropped my lunch money again.
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