16-2=14

This is a heartbreaker. I found two pennies this morning in the vicinity of Lafayette and Houston. Later in the morning, as I entered the turnstile at the 14th Street - Union Square subway station, I saw the familiar silver glint. Ah, yes, a dime. It was between the walls of the turnstile and when I bent down to get it I saw a neighboring penny, plucked it, swiped my card, turned the stile, and then spied yet another penny. This one was more difficult to retrieve however because people were following me in. I had to wait for two to go in and one to go out and then I was up to 14 damn cents and it wasn't even noon.

Here's where the heartbreak comes in. On the evening commute I spotted two *more* pennies (they do like the company of their own kind) under the bench across from me. They were pretty far back under the bench, which was loaded with folks. At 28th the folks didn't budge. At 23rd they didn't budge. It was a nail-biter to 14th. I thought that maybe at 14th Street they'd depart and I would be able to put my long foot under the bench and slide the pennies out with my sneaker and still get off the train before the doors closed. The train pulled into the 14th Street station and the guy above the pennies didn't make any motion at all like this was his stop. He was going to ride that train to Brooklyn Bridge, I could see it in his eyes. Do I go over to him, stick my foot between his legs, slide it out, and then bend down and pick up two pennies? Too weird? I've seen crazier things on the subway but still. Nope. I left them and buoyed my thoughts of despair with the idea that perhaps an MTA worker would find them while cleaning and give them a good home.

Total haul for the day = 14 cents

TOTAL to date = $3.53