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My legs take tiny strides along the street when my coal black eyes spot a shiny coin lying in a drain not too deep. I stop and look at it with immense curiosity. “So this is what a forty shilling coin looks like”, I tell myself. My eyes open up widely as excitement rushes through my body. I kneel down on the pavement and squeeze my small hand through the opening and desperately push my hand in further to get the coin. I wiggle my fingers like little worms hoping that they can reach it but my efforts reach a dead end. I slowly pull my hand out in total sadness and disappointment feeling like a racer who loses his race by inches…
I sit by the drain thinking of ways on how to remove the coin but none of my ideas work! I try pulling the drain’s cover off but it is as heavy as lifting my grandfather’s humongous boots. Feeling hopeless, I give up and slant myself against the wall staring at how the coin’s twinkle mocks my failure.
“Eureka!” I jump up and lighten up like a new bulb! With the help of some chewed up chewing gum lying on the payment, a stick and some threads pulled out from my T-shirt, I manage to make my personalized ‘coin-catching’ rod. I crawl over to the drain and slowly send in the gum attached to the threads. Lucky for me, the gum is still sticky. Trying to land the gum onto the coin is another colossal task. I curse my wobbly fingers for every time the gum would miss, the less sticky it got.
With one last shot left, I close my eyes and take deep breaths to calm down. I gather all my courage together and trying to focus on the coin with eagle sharp eyes, I lure the gum back in for one last try…
“Yipeeee!” I scream out loud feeling like a bubble floating up in the sky.
I open up my fist and find the coin shining even more on my palm. Dumbfounded I am. This must be the luckiest day of my life! With this forty shilling coin, I can do anything I want with it! Keep it, boast around with it or even spend it!
An evil grin shows up on my face… “Spend it… I like that! Spend it! Spend it!”
I dash for the candy store hoping they have something worth this amount. I come to a sudden halt outside the store as the sun gloriously reflects on the sign board “Drew’s Candy”. I eagerly clench my coin in my fist and with my other hand, push the door open. The bell at the door welcomes me in with royalty as if waiting for my arrival.
Magnificent candy! Wonderful candy! Glorious candy! My head twists round and round as I stand in the middle of the store amazed and astonished with all the surrounding candy.
Candy of all sorts! Chocolates, cotton candy, liquorish, jellies, lollipops as huge as my head, sweets and much, much more! But which candy do I take?
All of them call out to me! “Have a taste of me!”, “Try me!”, “I’m the one!”, “You’ll love me!”, “Go on take me!”
I stroll down every isle and admire every candy’s wrapping and divulge myself in their tempting aromas. The swirly red-white twists on the lollipops, the sugar coatings and particles on the jellies, the glittering coat on the cotton candy and the irresistible smell of the finest cocoa made by the best countries in the world revolves around me. My mouth begins to water endlessly and a sudden tingle fills my fingers.
Overwhelmed by the candy, I rush all over the store grabbing each and every type of candy and safeguarding it tightly against my chest. I felt like a wild dog on the loose that would attack anyone who dared to stop me!
The shopkeeper snaps me out of my uncontrollable candy craze but the frenzy devours my eyes. They keep rolling from side to side stealing glimpses of the candy. I cannot control the urge within me and like a blood thirsty vampire; I bite the shopkeepers hand and dash towards my stash of candy and begin ripping the wrappers off ferociously. I come across a chocolate bar with a golden wrapper perfectly complementing the chocolate’s bumps. I take it closer to my nose and take a deep sniff… A drool escapes the corner of my mouth. This is the one! Like a savage, I attack the chocolate bar and upon having my first bite; its silky texture fills my mouth and devours me…
The next minute I open my eyes, I find myself outside the store while the shopkeeper locks the door furiously. My senses come back crashing upon me like strong waves and I realize the humiliating acts I did. The store with the best candy, and now I am exiled from it. I manage to peek into the store and see a shelf filled with that scrumptious chocolate - its worth, ten shillings each! I curse myself and my uncontrollable craze.
“Well at least I still got my coin. Which store should I go to now?” I smile with a malicious smirk and toss my coin up in the air. I outstretch my hand to catch a hold of it but instead it lands on the top of a moving lorry which speeds away.
Curse my fate!
