looking up at the sky with hands on hips for a moment, and then went to roll up their awnings. A pair of lovers emerged from a dark hallway where they had stopped to wait out the rain. The girl’s mouth had been kissed hard, and the boy’s mouth carried lipstick, which had been bruised into the skin. Together, they walked briskly up the street, navigating the large puddles that dotted the sidewalk.
Everything stops, the young man thought. The rain stops, and the sun comes out, and then the sun stops, and the rain begins. When will my particular problem stop?
A boy on a bicycle rode past, his wheels creating hissing canopies of water as he raced alongside the sidewalk.
The young man watched the boy on the bicycle. He sighed heavily. There were two men standing on the sidewalk near the corner. One of the men was a redhead. The other man was tall, with dark hair, and he wore a dark-blue suit.
The young man gave them a cursory glance. As he approached them, the man in the blue suit stepped into his path.
“Excuse me,” he said.
The young man looked up.
“My name is Charlie Parsons. I wonder if you’d do me a favor.”
“What’s that?” the young man asked.
“This fellow here,” Parsons said, indicating the redhead, “has a gold coin, and I might be interested in buying it from him. Trouble is, I left my glasses home, and I can’t read the date on it. I wonder if you’d be so kind.”
The young man shrugged. “Well, I’m in sort of a hurry,” he said.
“It’ll only take a minute, and I’d certainly appreciate it.”
“Well,” the young man said, “where’s the coin?”
The redhead produced a large gold coin. “Picked it up in Japan,” he said. “I just got back from there. I was in the Army until last week. Just got discharged.” The redhead grinned disarmingly. He seemed like a simple country boy. “My name’s Frank O’Neill.”
The young man simply nodded and took the coin. “What am I supposed to look for?” he asked.
“The date,” Parsons told him. “Should be on the bottom there someplace.”
“On the bott…Oh yes, here it is. 1801.”
“1801?” Parsons said. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what it says. 1801.”
“Why, that’s…” Parsons stopped himself.
O’Neill was looking at him. “That makes it pretty old, don’t it?” he asked innocently.
Parsons cleared his throat. Obviously, he had stumbled upon something of real value and was now trying to hide his find. “No, that’s not very old at all. In fact, I’d say that’s a pretty common coin. The only surprising thing about it is that you were able to find a Russian coin in Japan.”
The young man looked at Parsons and then at O’Neill. “Russia once had a war with Japan, you know,” he said.
“Say, that’s right,” O’Neill said. “Bet that’s how the coin happened to be there. Damn, if you can’t pick up all kinds of junk in the interior of that country.”
“I might still be interested in buying the coin,” Parsons said guardedly. “Just as a curiosity piece, you understand. You know, a Russian coin that found its way to Japan.”
“Well,” O’Neill said, “I got it for a pack of cigarettes.” His candid naïveté was remarkable. “That’s all it cost me.”
“I couldn’t let you have more than ten dollars for it,” Parsons said judiciously. In an aside, he winked at the young man.
The young man stared at him, a puzzled expression on his face.
“I’d say you just bought yourself a gold coin,” O’Neill said, grinning.
Parsons reached into his wallet, trying to hide his haste. He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to O’Neill. “Do you have any change?” he asked.
“No, I don’t,” O’Neill said. “Let me have the bill, and I’ll cash it in that cigar store.”
Parsons gave him the bill, and O’Neill went into the cigar store on the corner. As soon as he was gone, Parsons turned to the young man.
“Jesus,” he said, “do you know what that coin is worth?”
“No,” the young man said.
“At least two hundred dollars! And he’s letting me have it for ten!”
“You’re pretty lucky,” the young man said.
“Lucky, hell. I spotted him for a hick from the minute I saw him. I’m just wondering what else he’s got to sell.”
“I doubt if he’s got anything else,” the young man said.
“I don’t. He’s just back from Japan. Who knows what else he may have picked up? I’m going to pump him when he gets back.”
“Well, I’ll be running along,” the young man said.
“No, stick around,