A Penny for Your Thoughts



  A Penny for Your Thoughts

  Timothy Paterson

  Copyright 2012 Timothy Paterson

  As Randy waited for his mom to pick him up from school, he was thinking of the big game on Friday. Coach Brown had informed him that scouts from a few universities, including the University of Kentucky would be watching the game. Randy wanted to go to the University of Kentucky, because they had a good basketball team. As he was lost in his thoughts, something on the ground caught his eye, something glistening from the sun. He reached down and picked up a brand new shiny penny. As he did so, he found himself repeating his mother’s favorite saying; “A penny for your thoughts.” I wish that were true.” Randy thought. “I wish that I could read other people’s thoughts. That would be so cool.”

  Randy put the penny in his pocket, just as his mother’s car pulled up. Mrs. Perkins looked tired and worn out, but Randy did not seem to notice. When she asked Randy how his day was, he spent the next twenty minutes telling her how great he played during basketball practice. “Coach Brown said that if we win the big game on Friday, it might help me to get a basketball scholarship. He told me that I’m the best player on the team, which of course, I already knew.”

  When they walked into the house, Annie was holding a math book and as soon as she saw Randy, she asked; “Randy, can you help me with this math problem?” “Not now, Annie” he answered. I’m just going to chill for a while.” Annie walked away with a look of disappointment on her face. She was ten years old, seven years younger than her brother was, and over the past several months, he had begun pushing her away from his life.

  “Randy, can you set the table for dinner?” asked his mother.

  “Why do I have to do everything around here?” asked Randy.

  Annie put her math book down and told her brother, “I’ll set the table for you, Randy” with a big smile on her face.

  “Okay. Thanks, Annie” he replied, but he did not even look at her. He just went into his bedroom and shut his door.

  When Randy’s father got home, Mrs. Perkins started putting dinner on the table. She called Randy to the table. Ten minutes later, when Randy had not come to the dinner table, his mom knocked on Randy’s door and then entered his room. She found Randy lying in the bed, talking on the phone to his girlfriend, Donna. “Hang up the phone, Randy” she told her son. “Dinner is ready. I called you ten minutes ago.”

  “I’ve got to go, Donna,” said Randy. It seems that somebody is in a crabby mood today.” Mrs. Perkins ignored her son’s remark and just glared at him as they walked to the dining room.

  While the family ate dinner, Randy dominated the conversation, talking about basketball practice and how well he had played. While he was taking a drink of milk, his dad took advantage of the silence. He used the opportunity to get a word in. “Did you get your chemistry test back, Randy?” he asked.

  “Yea” said Randy, “I got a C+, but it was a very hard test.”

  “Maybe, if you spent as much time studying as you did playing basketball, you wouldn’t be getting C’s,” said Dr. Perkins. “You won’t get accepted into college or Dental School with those grades.”

  “I don’t want to be a dentist,” thought Randy. “Just because you are a dentist, doesn’t mean I want to be one.” Randy wished that he had the guts to say that aloud, but instead, he simply replied; “Yes Sir”. Randy ate the rest of his meal in silence. As he ate the meal, he silently analyzed the food. “The meatloaf was a little too dry,” he thought, “and the vegetables were too bland”. He thought of how he would have cooked the meal differently. When he was younger, he loved to help his mother cook, but as he got into sports, and became so popular at school, he had little time to help at home.

  After dinner, Randy did his homework and then went to bed. He was exhausted from the extra long basketball practice.

  When Randy’s alarm went off the next morning, he shut it off and turned over and went back to sleep. His mother woke him up thirty minutes later and told him to hurry up. As Randy got out of bed, he heard his mother say, “I should just let you miss the bus and make you walk to school” as she walked out of the room. It surprised Randy, to hear his mother say that, because she had never talked to him like that before.

  Randy dressed quickly and went downstairs. His father had already left for work, dropping Annie off at school on his way. As Randy walked into the kitchen, he heard his mother say; “Not that shirt again. It’s about time that it went into the trash.”

  “What’s wrong with this shirt?” asked Randy.

  “Nothing” replied his mother looking puzzled. “Why do you ask?”

  Randy started to reply, but he stopped himself. “Never mind,” he said. Then he ran to catch the school bus.

  Randy was beginning to think that he was hallucinating. As he got on the bus, he heard somebody say, “Please don’t notice me. Sit somewhere else. Don’t humiliate me again.”

  Randy looked around the bus, and he saw a freshman who was trying to be invisible, trying not to make eye contact with Randy. Randy recognized the boy as somebody who he had picked on a few times. He never realized that he had caused the boy so much terror. At that moment, Randy put his hand in his pocket. As his had touched the penny that he had picked up the day before, he suddenly made the connection with the voices he had been hearing. He was reading peoples thoughts. He was relieved that he was not going crazy after all.

  Randy decided to test his mind reading ability. He sat down next to a guy who was also a senior. The two of them were worlds apart. Randy was a jock and Curtis was one of the smartest guys in the senior class. After a couple of minutes, Randy tried to strike up a conversation with the boy. “How’s it going, Curtis?” he asked.

  “Okay” said Curtis. However, then, Randy heard what Curtis was really thinking; “Why is Perkins suddenly talking to me? He probably needs to copy my homework. He better get a basketball scholarship, because that’s the only way he will get into college.”

  Randy just stared out of the window. “He wasn’t dumb; he just didn’t have much time to study” he thought to himself. “His social life and basketball took up most of his time. He could get good grades if he wanted to.” The truth was that Randy thought he was too cool to waste time studying.

  When the bus arrived at Frankfort Community High School, Randy exited the bus and walked into the building. As he was going to his locker, his girlfriend, Donna caught up with him. “Hi Randy” she said, and she gave him a quick kiss. “Are you ready for the big game on Friday?”

  “Yes”-said Randy. “Scouts from the University of Kentucky will be watching me play. It could mean a full scholarship for me.”

  “Yeah, yeah” thought Donna. “I really don’t care about the game. I am just trying to make conversation. What I really care about is the party afterwards. I have a new dress that I want to show off. I hope that you fork out the big bucks for dinner before the game.”

  Randy could not believe his ears, or rather his brain. He never realized how shallow Donna was until now. He always thought that Donna adored him, but she just loved his popularity and his money.

  “Well. I have to get to class now,” said Randy, and he walked away from Donna. He was lost in thought and was not watching where he was going. He ran right into another student, knocking her books to the floor. Randy was embarrassed and bent down to pick up her books.

  “I’m sorry” he said to the girl. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine” she said and she thanked Randy for picking up her books.

  “Are you
new here?” asked Randy.

  “No” said the girl. “I’ve only gone to school with you for four years,” she thought. “Maybe, if I was a cheerleader or a pompom girl, you would have remembered me. I’m a very interesting person, and you would see that, if you got to know me.”

  Randy could tell, by reading her thoughts, that the girl was upset that he did not know her after being in the same class with her for four years. As she started to walk away, Randy touched her shoulder, and she turned around. “I’m really sorry for almost knocking you down, and I’m sorry that I never noticed you before. I must have been blind, not to see someone as pretty as you. I can be a jerk at times. This might sound corny, but you have beautiful eyes. What’s your name?”

  The girl smiled and replied; “I’m Monica Young, and thank you for the compliment. As they walked to class together, Randy felt different. He did not know what it was, but he felt good about himself.

  When they walked into Government class, Randy suddenly remembered that there was a test and he had not studied for it at all. He was worried at first, but then he got an idea. After the tests had been handed out to the class, Randy asked; “Mrs. Castle, what’s the answer to the first question?” Randy heard some laughter from some of his classmates. Randy knew that his