One Penny

Sarah Rogowski

night_lights_by_avirashyde

My eyes are round and wide like apples as the bundle of buildings grow bigger. My parents are in the front seat and my older brother is beside me, picking through the latest Mad Magazine. I roll my forehead against the window as I stare at the cardboard cut-out buildings in the distance. My favorites are the twin towers.

“Hey Mike, you think those twins are the exact same size? Or are they more like fraternal twins?”

“Nah, one has a big antenna on top, so it’s bigger,” Mike says.

I sit and stare as I think about my friend Lisa who has a taller twin. I stick my hands behind me and into the crevice of the seat cushions. I run my hands along gritty dirt and potato chip crumbs. I pull out a penny. I put it over my eye and hold a wink so it can stay in place. It falls on my lap after two seconds. Manhattan is getting bigger as we advance.

“You know if you dropped that penny off one of the twin towers you could cut some one in half.”

I give Mike a cold stare. “That’s not true, you stupid!”

“Uh-huh, the building is so high, if you drop it off the top it will catch so much momentum that it will cut through a person’s head.”

I close my eyes and see myself on top of a twin tower. I let the penny slip out of the grasp of the thumb and pointer. It plunges down, catching wafts of New York City pizza and Central Park dog poo. It glides through the air, flipping and tumbling like a gymnast going for the gold. It whistles against the wind like a teapot crying for a teabag. Abe Lincoln’s stomach drops. The engraved words fly off. It’s falling. Falling. Fa…

And it hits him. Middle-aged man with a bag of groceries. He screams as he spews blood. Gushes like fruit candy on the sidewalk. He is split in perfect two. Clean cut! And the penny keeps going through the earth until it pokes through the ground of China and into outer space.

The man’s groceries take a tumble. Apples and mini cheese wheels and banana peels fall and scurry in every direction. The pretzel man slips on a banana and salt goes flying. It lands in a lady’s eye and she yelps, letting go of her dog. The golden retriever runs across the street and causes a traffic jam. Like dominoes, car after car after car hit each other. The earth starts to rumble and the towers shake and fall, crashing into the street. I fly down like the penny. Down to the ground and through the sidewalk. Through China and then back smack in the car seat. My eyes shoot open and I shudder. I feel like I just got away with murder.

“Here you can have this”. I tell him, nauseated.

I hand the penny to my brother. I lean my head back on the window and look out at the city skyline. I sigh thankfully at the sight of my two favorite buildings, keeping each other company in the safety of the city.