A Penny for Your Thoughts

Author's note: If you're expecting a stroke story, you'll be highly disappointed, so I'd suggest you move on to another one. And though there is plenty of hot steamy sex later on in this story, I've slowly built up to it for a number of reasons. For one, I wanted this somewhat far-fetched idea to at least sound plausible. It's a bit on the Dean Koontz, even Stephen King side of things with a dash of true erotica mixed in for flavor. I thought I might attempt this tale; see how well received it might be through your votes and comments. It is one I may expand at some point into a full book given the subject matter. So again, if you like it, find it interesting, please let me know. Hopefully most of you will enjoy this.

Thank you, Many Feathers, aka...Thesandman

*

I remember that day so many years ago now, out camping by the lake with my parents. The horrible thunderstorm that came out of nowhere, the countless lightning strikes hitting everywhere. Including me.

I don't remember much of anything after that. Only waking up in the hospital, the sound of voices nearby. One of the doctors's speaking to my parents, hearing bits and pieces of their conversation, as I lay there swimming through the fugue of coma, and waking.

"A miracle he even survived. No telling yet the affect it may have had on him," sounds of mom crying. The sense of touch, something cool on my forehead though my eyes refused to open, to tell them I could hear things, feel things. My body as yet unresponsive. It would be a week more at least before whatever was going on deep down inside me, finally gave way, allowing me to once again return to the present. My eyes popping open, though I hadn't been asleep...still listening, still feeling.

Someone calling out to a nurse...mom now standing by my bedside, tears running down her face as she leaned over kissing me, still calling out for someone to come.

"He's awake!" She charged as one of the nurses finally did come in.

"I'll get the doctor," she stated almost as happy as mom seemed to be.

"Welcome back to our world Brian," the doctor, told me as he began writing in my chart. "You've been away for a while."

That was nearly ten years ago. I was ten at the time. A lot had happened in the course of those ten years. Some remarkable things in fact. Slowly, gradually...for whatever reason, finally manifesting themselves to me with the onset of puberty for some strange reason. I remember the first time I felt it, sensed it. This "little spark" as I called it, though later I called it "flipping my Bic" for lack of a better explanation for what it was.

It was several weeks after returning home from recovering in the hospital that I first sensed something unusual had happened to me. Too afraid to tell anyone about it for fear of having to go back while they performed all sorts of tests on me, I simply ignored what I'd discovered, locking it away, too afraid to explore it, test it...revel in it. That little spark. That little something that felt so very, very strange.

I had stumbled across it quite by accident. Walking home from school one day, watching my own feet more than anything, trying not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk as a way of amusing myself. A simple penny. Stopping, reaching down in order to pick it up. It felt hot, hot from the sun perhaps, I flinched just for a second. But as I did, I felt this spark, this thing...and then saw it between my fingertips. A bluish white light, just a fragment for a moment or so, between my fingertips now holding the penny. I dropped it, it too seemed to glow for a moment, and then the light faded. I picked it up again, and though warm it was no longer hot. Quite naturally I put it into my pocket, and then scurried home to tell mom about the strange thing that had happened to me.

I had no idea at the time of course, just how strange it would turn out to be.

**

I had run home with my penny. Darting into the house, into the kitchen were mom stood making cookies. "Mom! Mom! Look at what I found!" I had said excitedly, showing her the penny. She laughed.

"You're rich!" She laughed again.

"No mom, you don't understand. It's not just a penny, I think it's a magic penny or something, I saw it glowing!"

I suppose to humor me, she now accepted it, looking at it a bit more closely. "A magic penny huh? Don't suppose it grants wishes or anything? Like maybe giving us a million, perhaps even two million more of these things?" She chuckled once again, though looking at it. Of course I knew, she was making light of it, not taking it serious at all, and deflating my excitement.

And then she said, "Hmmm, date says 1961. That was the year I was born."

Only, she didn't really say it. I mean no words came out of her mouth. She was just standing there looking at it, holding onto it, yet I swear I had heard her actually say it clear as day. She handed it back, and then said. "That was the year I was born, when the penny was made, 1961."

"I know, I heard you the first time," I responded now reexamining it again, looking at the date, confirming what I'd now heard her say twice.

"First time?" She asked looking at me oddly, but then let it go, turning back towards her cookies again. "Damn...I forgot to get more flour at the store," she said. "I need at least another cup to finish these. I wonder if Susan has some flour I could borrow?"

"Want me to run over to Mrs. Daniels and ask to borrow a cup for you?" I asked. It was something I was always doing for mom, and something Mrs. Daniels seemed to always be doing with us too. Borrowing things back and forth from one another.

Mom turned, a bewildered look on her face. "How'd you know I was thinking that?" She asked.

"Thinking what?"

"About borrowing some flour from Susan."

"I heard you asking about it," I said looking just as confused as she was.

"But I didn't say anything."

"Sure you did. I heard you."

It was an odd conversation. But it was soon forgotten as I shortly afterwards headed off in pursuit of a cup of flour for mom. Me thinking she was messing with me, and mom...well, who knows what she was thinking at the time.

**

Later on that evening after dad got home from work I showed him my magic penny too. He looked at it briefly, handed it back, giving me one of his patented smiles that said, "that's nice...now go away." "Fine son, if you think so," he told me as he handed it back. "You know what they say though don't you?"

"No...what?"

"A penny saved, is a penny earned." And then he didn't say another word as he went back to reading his newspaper.

I looked at my penny. Maybe it wasn't magic after all. But I wasn't going to just save it either. If anything, I could spend it on a "two-fer" as we called them. Penny candies. Only they weren't just a penny. Some of them got you a "two-fer" for one penny as we called them back then. Six chocolate's in a plastic wrap, but for a penny you could get two of them. A good deal at any price.

I ran upstairs to my room to get cleaned up for dinner, placing the penny on my nightstand, and promptly forgot all about it. Until the following day when Jimmy, who was my best friend at the time, and his younger sister Jenny came over. I'd always had a bit of a crush on Jenny, though I wasn't supposed to have one of those I suppose. Guys my age weren't supposed to be into girls yet. So I pretty much kept that a secret to myself. And I certainly wasn't about to ever admit that to Jenny either. I wasn't sure she even liked me all that much, though she was always tagging along, hanging out with us all the time, which Jimmy said his mother forced him to do, thus keeping an eye on her.

They'd come over, hanging around my room, reading comic books, though Jenny as usual was bored, rummaging through stuff. My stuff, which was fairly annoying, even though I sort of liked her.

I saw her pick up my penny almost nonchalant, looking at it, though also looking like she was going to take it.

"Hey, put it back. That's my penny!" I told her. She looked at me like I'd gone mad.

"It's just a penny. What's so special about it?"

"It's magic...that's what!" I said, though to be honest, I no longer believed it really was. But the thing was, I was irritated at her for almost swiping it. I reached out for it, though she did her tease thing, holding it out to me, and then taking it back before I could get it from her. "Come on...give it."

"What's so magic about it?" She teased, Jimmy looking on, finding amusement in my struggle and his sister's obvious annoyance with me. I closed the distance between us, once again grabbing her hand, this time too fast for her to do anything as I struggled with her. Her laughing, me trying to force her hand open, finally doing so, reaching for the penny...and then this little spark suddenly happening again. The penny glowed, only briefly, but the spark made us both flinch, both of us dropping it where it rolled off somewhere on the floor.

"What was that?" She asked looking at her hand, though there weren't any marks there, even though she rubbed at a supposed spot. "What did you do?"

"What'd he do?" Jimmy said only now curious.

"He made it glow," Jenny told him. "The penny."

"Where is it?"

"Somewhere around here on the floor," I said now looking for it, as suddenly we all were.

And then Jenny found it, only she didn't really say anything, holding it, palming it, once again attempting to steal it, keep it perhaps. Only I heard her, looking up then as she just stood there, though her mouth never moved.

""You'll never find it," she said...without saying it. "Because I found it, and I'm never going to tell you."

"Give it here," I said looking at her. "Give it to me. I know you have it Jenny, now give it back."

She looked at me in surprise. And then reached into the pocket of her pants, pulling it out handing it back to me.

"Here, keep your old stupid penny," she stated. And then she said...and just because of that, I'll never let you kiss me either."

Only thing was, she didn't say that. Once again, I'd heard it, but she hadn't actually said that to me.

"Who says I'd want to kiss you anyway?" I then asked her. The look in her eyes, the sudden stunned expression on her face as she suddenly turned and bolted from my bedroom said it all.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jimmy asked, though now forced to leave, as he'd catch hell for it if he didn't accompany his sister.

I stood there looking at my Penny, realizing what had just happened. Not understanding it, not at all. But maybe...just maybe...that Penny really was magic afterall.

**

That then became my secret. Maybe the penny really was magic. Though if it was, it wasn't magic for very long. And it didn't seem to really do anything more than allow me to hear someone's thoughts for a few minutes or so at the most. But that was pretty cool in and of itself. Though I quickly learned not to tell anyone I could do that either. For one thing, they wouldn't believe me. But for another, if they did...and if they realized there were times I could honestly do that, well then...it would take all the fun out of it for one thing. And rob me of my Magic Penny for another. It was just too good of a thing to share with anyone after that. And so my penny became my good luck piece too in a way. Always with me, always on me...though I rarely if ever took it out when I was around anyone, which was ironically weird in a sense. And because I didn't, it didn't do anything either. And I couldn't just make the little spark come because I wanted it too, even though I tried countless times. It just didn't work that way for some reason.

And then one day, I lost my penny. I'd left it in my pants pocket, on the floor in my bedroom when I went in to take a bath. I didn't know it, didn't realize it until much later, but mom had come in, gathered up my dirty clothes and took them into the laundry room to wash. I don't know whatever happened to my magic penny, but it was gone. And even after I exhausted several hours looking for it, I finally gave up and resigned myself to the fact I'd never be able to do that again.

But I was only then starting to learn a lot more about myself anyway. A few months later, experiencing my first ever "nocturnal emission" as they were called. My first ever dirty, "wet-dream." And with that, all kinds of things started to happen. Some of which at first, actually scared the hell out of me!

**

The first thing I did of course was run off to see Jerry and ask him about what had happened. A year older than I was, I figured he had to know. And quite naturally he did, explaining it to me, but then taking it up to the next level even, which is when I learned what masturbation was. And it was later, while practicing that, that I found myself aroused, excited. And low and behold, the spark came back. Just like that. I felt the little tingle just between my fingers, though at the time, it was between my fingers and something else when it happened again. But there it was, which is when I started calling it, flicking my Bic, which was a term the guys were using for doing something else entirely. But I knew now it was arousal and excitement that brought it about. I wondered then about the Penny. So I found one, tried it...and sure enough, it worked on it too. So it wasn't just THAT penny, the one I had lost so long ago now, but any penny. And if it was any penny, then...and sure enough, I figured out through trial and error, it was actually copper. Whatever it was, and why...copper was the conduit through which I learned to use my deep dark secret. Though pennies remained the easiest way to make it work. Now I had a whole jar of them. Magic Pennies.

Through trial and error, I quickly learned several things. You didn't actually need to be holding the penny, it only needed to be close to you, though if it did touch you in some way, it did seem to work better and last longer. And that was the other thing I learned as well. I found out that if I flicked my Bic too often, it didn't seem to work as well, or last nearly as long. Usually less than a minute even, if that. So then I tried refraining, seeing how long I could make it work for, and how strong. Again trial and error in doing that, but the strongest it would ever last was for no more than fifteen minutes perhaps. I had gone two, three days, and then a week...even two without making the spark. But it didn't seem to matter, or make any difference. Two days without sparking seemed to charge it up to the maximum I could make it work, make it go. So now I had the parameters at least, and a better understanding of it. Or so I thought anyway.

So far, I had used it to eavesdrop, basically picking up on people's thoughts. Which for the most part was actually pretty boring, not nearly as exciting as I first thought or believed it would be. Only on occasion would I actually pick up on something juicy, something titillating and interesting. It was like playing golf in a way. Getting frustrated, asking yourself why you played in the first place, and then getting that perfect swing, or putt. It's what kept you coming back. Same thing with my new found ability. Most of the time it was boring, but every once in a while...

**

By now I was eighteen. I'd been honing my skills so to speak, flicking my Bic, practicing the placement of pennies here and there on unsuspecting people, or when the opportunity presented itself, just brushing against, or touching something I knew was made of copper that someone was wearing. That eventually proved to work the best. Maybe because in those instances, they were closer to the people I used this on. That...and having gone at least two days to ensure I had a "full charge" not knowing what else to really call it. Only then would I release the spark, mostly just a little at a time unless I caught a piece or sense of something I found particularly interesting. Then I may very well use it all.

I had gone into a reasonably nice little coffee shop one evening after getting off from my part-time job. I tried to do so at least once or twice a week, mainly because of a really attractive girl around my age who worked there. I hadn't really approached her as far as going out or anything, mainly because she'd never shown much of an interest towards me beyond my being a semi-regular customer. I wasn't exactly a geek or anything, certainly not bad looking...but I'd already figured out, either she had a boyfriend, or I just wasn't her type. It didn't stop me from going in to gawk at her though, or entertain the prospect of "slipping her a penny." I'd even gotten to the point of boldly doing that in some cases, mostly with people I knew of course, handing them a penny and then simply saying, "A penny for your thoughts?" That's usually all it took, and then they were giving them to me, good and bad at times, without ever knowing they had.

So there I was, having my usual piece of pie and coffee, ogling Debbie, enjoying the view, especially her rather large breasts, that she had on one or two occasions, leaned over just enough while explaining something to me off the specials of the day to give me an added treat to my visit. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity, the precise moment to use my line, slide a copper penny across to her, or place it in her hand and then ask her that very question. I was planning on doing so when I saw this guy come in taking a seat across the aisle from me. There was something about him, the way he looked maybe, though it was more the look he took when watching Debbie moving about. It gave me the creeps, almost leering at her as he sat there watching her. Maybe it was a sixth sense or something that made me do it. But I charged my penny, and then slid out of my booth on the pretense of going to the restroom, stumbling, pretending to fall, catching myself as I all but collided into his booth. I tossed my magic penny into his lap as I did so, apologizing. His look of annoyance and disgust with me readily apparent, not even answering or acknowledging I'd done that after I straightened myself up. I soon headed into the restroom, spent only a moment or so, and immediately came back out again. I figured I had maybe two or three minutes to more or less listen in on the man in the booth sitting next to me.

"Nice little piece of ass," he thought. "I wouldn't mind fucking that cunt, in fact...I'm going to! That's it! I'm going to! I'm going to wait until she gets off, walks out, then I'm going to grab her...haul off over to those bushes behind the parking lot, and that's where..."

It's all I heard, but it was enough. Debbie was in danger, and it was up to me to do something about it. I slid out of my booth, grabbing my check waving it at her so that she would walk over and meet me at the cash register.

"Debbie, I need to tell you something," I told her, causing her to look oddly at me for a moment, which in itself worried me. "You do know me, well sort of anyway...I've been coming here for a while now, so hopefully you will listen to what I have to say to you," she seemed somewhat alarmed now, but with the manager standing not too far away, she had obviously decided to hear me out. "Don't look...but that guy over there who was sitting across from me, I overheard him, talking to himself. I don't think he realized that he was, or did. But I heard him say something...something about you, something he was planning on doing to you after you got off work tonight." Now she was looking freaked out, but I continued. "Right now, right this very second, go tell your boss what I just told you. After that, call the cops...tell them what I said, what I heard this guy saying. Please Debbie, trust me...now do it!"

She immediately turned, walked over, whispered something to her boss, and then the two of them walked around into the back. I left more than enough money for my bill sitting there, and then calmly walked outside towards my car. I climbed in, and then sat, hoping and praying that she had done what I'd asked her to do. Less than five minutes later, two patrol cars pulled up in front. Two officers got out, walked in as though stopping for something to eat perhaps as two more patrol cars pulled up behind the building, officers getting out of their cars with guns drawn.