Coins

I no longer save or collect them. As a child,
a penny held value—like bazooka bubble gum
wrapped in a comic.

My two-year old grandson asks what’s this?
holding up a penny. When I say it’s used
to buy things in stores, he stares at me with
a blank expression framed by stringy
blonde bangs. Has he ever been to a store?

Does your mommy use money like this?
His wide, hazel eyes are fixed on mine. I try
again. Does your mommy buy things on her phone
or in a store? That stare returns.

I tell him that when I was a child we had
no phones and had to walk or drive to stores.
That stare returns. (Am I that old?)
Look, that’s Lincoln, he was our president, I tell him.
Back home I order the cutest little piggy bank,
exactly like the one my grandma bought me.

---

By Diana Raab. Published in The Soloquist, February 2026