The Lucky Penny
Maria was an immigrant from Italy. She came to America because her village burned down from a forest fire. Amin came to America from Saudi Arabia because he wanted to escape a very dangerous childhood. Noah came from England because he wanted to become a famous treasure hunter. Michele came from Russia because she wanted to become a veterinarian and open her own animal hospital. They all came to America because they wanted to live a better life.
Maria was headed down Main Street and had only 1 penny left. She spotted a fountain right by an old music shop. She decided to throw her penny in and make a wish. Maria thought in her head as she threw the penny in: “I really hope that here, in New York, I will have friends, be educated, and my family can live in peace.” She threw the penny, and then walked away. But she didn’t know that it didn’t make it in.
A short time later, Amin came down Broadway. He had nothing in his pocket, but he saw a music store on one side of Main Street, thinking that, maybe, he would go check it out. He walked across the street and saw a shiny penny glimmering like the bright blue sky next to the fountain. Amin picked it up, threw it in the fountain, heard it go “plop!” and, then, made his wish: “I wish that someday, I will eventually become a famous musician and have enough money to give my brothers and sisters the things they need to have a good life.” He remembered about the music store and went to check it out.
The next day was September 8, 1970. Amin, Noah, Michele, and Maria were all nervous because it was the first day of school at their new school. But they were happy. They were all going to Greenhills Middle School, which was one of the most highly rated schools in New York and they all agreed that it was awesome. When they were at school, Maria and Michele met and were best friends after they had a fun time talking about New York. Meanwhile, Amin and Noah were having fun playing basketball, and were best friends after that. When they came to their first class, they heard a rumor that there was a bully named
Mark Shamrock who hated new kids and mostly beat them up. They were not afraid because they were with each other on this journey.
Amin, Noah, Michele and Maria were having a good time and they didn’t get bullied at all. After school, Maria got a call from her good-natured father, who sounded like he was super excited. He told Maria that he had bought a one-dollar lottery ticket and had won the $2 million jackpot! They were both so excited, that everyone was staring at Maria. On the way home, Maria was jumping up and down. When she got home, Maria asked her father if she could let Amin have fifty thousand dollars for his music dream. After he said yes, Maria told Amin. He was so excited that he did four back flips!
But the good luck for Maria and Amin didn’t stop there. The next day Amin’s father called him and told him that they had been invited to lead a peace walk in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Maria also had great news from her mother. Maria’s song, Breakthrough, had been purchased by CBS records, and was being made into a hit song. Maria was so happy that she was about to cry.
When Amin talked to Maria, he told her that he found a George Washington penny on the ground by the fountain. She said, “I threw a penny, as well! Did you make a wish, too, Amin?” “Yes, I did!” Amin exclaimed.
Maria and Amin both pondered, “I wonder why our wishes came true, but not exactly as we wished them.” They both thought about that for the next day or so. Then, finally, Amin slipped a note to Maria saying, “Meet me in the art room at exactly 3:00pm.”
After waiting about 10 minutes in the art room, Amin wondered where Maria could be. He started to search all over and, finally, asked another student if he knew where Maria might have gone. The student told Amin that Maria had gone to talk with Michele at the old music shop on Main Street. Amin headed downtown and, of course, there they were, talking right in the music shop’s ukulele section. “Where have you been?” asked Amin. “I’ve been here talking with Michele because it was an emergency,” responded Maria. “What was the emergency?” Amin inquired. Maria explained: “I heard that Noah was getting
beat up by Mark Shamrock because he bought some water and then Mark took it from him. Noah punched him and it turned into a huge fight and everyone was going ballistic.” Amin said, “Well, let’s go and try to break it up. Hopefully, we won’t end up getting punched as well. I really hope that Noah is okay”. On their way there, they had some problems - ones that they had to fix. While going, Maria fell off her bike and was bleeding on her knee. They then asked at one of the houses if they could have a couple bandages. After a few minutes they were all ready to go, and then they went to go help Noah.
When they got inside the school, Michele, Maria and Amin almost jumped a foot high because Noah yelled out of the blue. Suddenly, Mark and Noah tumbled out - punching, kicking, and yelling. Then Amin jumped in, and easily broke the fight up and pinned Mark down. Amin asked Mark why he stole the bottle of water and his only response was that he really did not know. In the end, he said that he really just wanted friends.
After Mark left, they returned to the music shop where Amin asked to talk with Maria. “Maria, I think that the penny I threw in was magical,” said Amin. “Yes, but I threw in one, and ...” Maria said. “And I found it on the ground!” Amin exclaimed. “Maybe I missed and you found my coin and threw it in and both of our wishes came true,” said Maria. Then Amin said, “Hey, Noah and Michele, we want to tell you why we each had good fortune. We want to tell you that we made wishes in the fountain and when Maria’s coin missed, I was the one who found it and I threw it in. So that is why we have had these certain things happen to both of us.”
Noah said, “Well, that explains probably all my questions that have been piling up over the past 2 days.” “Hey, also, why did both wishes come true?,” asked Noah. Amin said, “So, Maria and I were both thinking that maybe the coin was magical or it was maybe a special coin.” “Yeah,” Maria agreed. Then, she had an idea. “Maybe we should go and try to find some info about old coins with magical things on it or coins that have special spells on them,” said Maria. Michele was excited and said she had a plan. “Let’s go check out the Library of New York and ask the librarian if there are any books like that in this library,” said Michele.
Thirty minutes later, they were looking at books of magical objects and were so interested they were as quiet as mice. Then, finally, Noah yells “I FOUND IT!” Suddenly, they were all huddled around Noah looking at the page. As it said in bolded letters, “There are only 2 of this kind of penny!” The book went to say that, “This penny is a wishing penny to all who find it. It will grant all wishes spent on it. Only found in New York, the penny has the face of General George Washington, instead of our very own, Abraham Lincoln.” Maria was amazed. “Now, I know why it had the face of Washington on it!,” said Maria. “Let’s now try to find out how much this coin is worth,” said Noah.
Ten minutes later, they were asking the librarian if he had a book on the value of old, enchanted coins. They were trying to find it, but, then, the speaker started saying, “The library will be closing in 5 minutes.” “Well, let’s try and get some more info on it tomorrow” said Michele.
The next day at 7:30 in the morning, Amin was with Noah and they were waiting for Michele and Maria. “Hey, maybe in the meantime, we could try and find the book on the value of coins,” said Amin. “Great idea,” said Noah. Thirty minutes later, after Maria and Michele had arrived, they all were looking at some old books, when Amin said, “Found it.” They found the page and they were reading. Suddenly, Noah yelled “Oh, My Gosh!” And then they whispered because they were afraid that somebody would try and hear them and steal the penny. Noah said quietly, “It’s worth over 2 million dollars!” Then, they all went over to the old music store and each friend put their hand on their heart and said “We will all never take the penny out of the fountain because we all cherish our friendship.”
The End