Bull Stamped Coin

Every night at the library, it rained in the corner between the borders of fiction and nonfiction.

The same drab raincloud, grey and small, would hover over Julie as she put away the book returns. Julie was in her early 30's, average, and still single to the disgust of her only living relative. She didn't plan on going after some prestigious career, or collecting friends to go out with on Friday nights like every adult should. All Julie desired in life was to be quiet, kept under the rug or placed on the back burner of all thoughts. Not to be noticed was key. Even if the library job didn't make a lot of money, she enjoyed doing something so humdrum in order to meet her basic needs in life without any further stress.

Her life wasn't getting any better so she might as well do something easy, which was a phrase Julie always said to her coworkers. Usually, being in the library around closing was peaceful in some ways. No one was around to ask about a dying computer screen or some book that was never in stock.

It was always just silence, and the occasional thump of a book being put back in alphabetical order.

Rolling the creaky metal cart across the aged wooden floors, Julie made her way to the same starting point amongst the landscape of bookcases. On the way through the aisles of stories long forgotten, a shiny round object glimmered under the bright white lights.

"Looks strange...did someone drop a quarter?"

With another sigh, Julie continued to talk to herself while reaching over to pick it up. It was heavier than the typical quarter, with the image of a bull on both sides. Its horns curved around in the coin, while the word "abundance" was stamped onto the face of it.

"Must be lucky." Quickly, Julie put it in her pocket and almost forgot about it as she began to put away the mystery books. That is, until a loud rustling of book pages nearby startled her from the closing routine.

"Hello?"

No answer, of course.

Thinking it was another coworker working too closely to her, she continued on without worry.

Thump.

Following the thud, a loud bang shattered the silence and echoed in between the walls of books. The noise made Julie drop everything at once, fiercely turning around to see what had caused the disruption.

At the end of the long hallway of bookcases, a bull stood. Its horns were golden, and the ring hanging from its nose was bright red. With black eyes, it stared intensely at her shaking bones. It had a necklace of flowers that stood out against its brown color, but shook them back and forth.

Before Julie could think about the wild animal in front of her, it kicked its mighty feet and breathed out heavily before charging full speed down the cramped aisle.

Julie was unable to catch her breath or scream as came barreling toward her.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god....."

But within inches of meeting her hands covering her face, it vanished. There was no sight of the bull anywhere, or any sign that a full grown mammal had been stampeding at her in the confines of the library.

Except when she looked down, Julie saw a pile of money. Freshly wrapped with ribbon and stacked neatly on the floor in front of her. The word "abundance" was written in cursive above the money on a small piece of golden paper in black ink. Carefully, she picked up the stacks of money and held a few bills under the light.

"This...this is real..."

She stuttered. Looking around, Julie began to put the money in her pockets and on the cart. Nothing was making sense, but this was an incredible gift. The coin she picked up on the floor was literal magic, and she would never part ways with it.

Once the closing tasks were done, she exited the library in a hurry. With all this newfound money, she could finally quit having a job altogether and never leave home again.

On her way home, Julie passed by the usual coffee shops and small business littered amongst 43rd street. The college kids were getting out of their afternoon classes, walking around with their friends and complaining about homework. It was a life she had missed, but was glad she wasn't involved with anymore.

A girl on a nearby bench, however, seemed isolated from the entire buzz of the street life. She sat crying, clutching her backpack while displaying a cracked phone screen close to side.

"Hey...are you alright?"

"Not really," replied the girl. Her tears made her mascara run down her face in long crooked strands.

"I can't find my coin, it's super important." She said with another croaked out cry and a sniff.

Is she talking about that library coin I just found? God I hope not but...ugh.

"What does it look like?" Julie asked. nervously fumbling around in her purse for the blocks of money. They still sat there at the bottom, yet leaving the purse feeling lighter than before.

"It has a bull on both sides."

Julie looked for the coin in her bag, and reluctantly handed it over to the girl. Smiling, the girl looked at the coin and wiped her tears.

"You made the right choice, by the way."

"What?" Julie began to stutter.

Without having time to think any further about her words, the girl transformed into the same bull Julie saw back at the library. Even more money appeared on the bench.

"Abundance" said the bull, before disappearing again.