The Fifty-Cent Coin
What would be, could be, should be the primary observations of an advanced senior “kid”? Life is a smorgasbord of gladness, sadness, and everywhere in between. Not one person knows when they are youngsters what their fate shall be. Let us go traveling with one such character and find out the results.
The 10-year-old lad was normal in every way: energetic, inquisitive, full of imagination. He also had some mischief not too well hidden in his character.
His parents lived in rural Indiana where, in the summer time, the grass grows rapidly. When the neighbor lady asked if he would be interested in mowing her lawn with a reward of 50 cents, he (his name was Harry) was in “Seventh Heaven.”
At that time, the lawn mowers were reel type and had to be pushed by hand to operate, but that was “AOK.” Harry had energy to spare. The first mowing complete, he was paid a big, shiny, new 50-cent coin. He was as proud of it as he would be of a thousand-dollar bill!
What to do with it? He trusted it to his pocket until he got home and very proudly showed it to his mom and dad.
After that came playtime outside, and he still had his new 50-cent coin that was not in safekeeping. Harry thought, “If I put it in my mouth, I won’t lose it.” (Dumb as he was, he put it in his mouth!)
He went on playing for a while–until he needed to swallow. Yep, you guessed it: the big coin squeezed down his throat and lodged. It would not come up, nor was there room for it to go on down. Harry was badly scared! He went running into the house to Mom. Mom looked in his mouth and could see nothing. Then she became scared that the coin would turn sideways and choke him to death. Mom found Dad immediately and they quickly concluded that the closest doctor was at Young America, three-and-a-half miles away. Dad ignored the speed limit getting there!
Dr. Lybrook was immediately in great sympathy with the parents. He said, “The coin is lodged in his throat edgewise. He can breathe all right now. If I go to messing with it without a good instrument to get it out, it might turn flat wise and choke him to death. We better go to the Kokomo Clinic that can handle a situation like that. You, Bill, follow me. We will go over to Road 22 and go in on that.”
With that, they were off, dust flying so thick that Dad could scarcely see. They felt safe, though, because Dad was an excellent driver: he drove buses for an automobile dealer.
They had progressed a ways on dusty S. R. 22 (22 had not yet been paved) when Harry suddenly yelled, “Mom, roll the window down; I’m sick!” She did, and none too soon. Harry’s head popped out the window and he barfed violently. He knew the guilty coin came with everything else. He yelped to Mom and Dad, “The 50-cent coin came up and out the window!”
Dad quickly analyzed the situation and said, “We’ve got to go catch and stop the Doc, and then look for the coin.” With that, the accelerator was hard against the floor and we were moving on. After a mile or so, we caught up with Doc and stopped him. He grinned and quickly replied, “Thank God! We have to find that coin. Bill, take us back where you think the coin is.”
Dad and Mom both knew approximately where to stop, and the hunt was on. All of us looked on the roadside and in the grass. Suddenly Harry yelped, “Here it is, here it is!” Sure enough, there it was! Proof that it actually was out!
Two cars of extremely thankful people went home happy, a divine answer to a loving mother’s prayer!
About the Author
Harry Dishon is a retired veteran living in Howard County. He and his wife Joan recently recorded some of Harry’s recollections as a child and as a soldier, and we are honored to be able to share these memories with you. Periodically, we will post selections from Harry’s writings on our Military Appreciation page, so please come back and share some of Harry’s insights and memories.