The Lions

HOW MANY WAYS can you kill a man? I thought as I walked in the Thornbury Lions Opportunity Store. Paul was sitting there behind the desk with a tobacco stained moustache and grey goatie type beard. He had kindness and torture in his blue eyes as he greeted me.

“I still owe you six bucks for that blanket, Paul”

“Ah, whenever mate, you're right.”

“Thank you so much for that blanket, Paul. The landlord wants to kick me out and that old grey blanket has kept me warm”

“MmmHmm” he replied and gave a kind nod.

In the store I instantly spied a green candle, a small figurine of a tiger with a cub, and a big stack of old lined paper that had turned a yellowish brown, probably from the 1960’s or 70’s, that I can use to write on. The candle was for warmth and so I could see what I was doing at night, and the tiger was to remind myself that food is more important than money, and I would display it as such. Currently it reminds me of food, family, and many more things that matter to me; and are all more important than the dollar.

Candle: $1.00.00

Paper: $2.00.00

Tiger: $5.00.00

Blanket $6.00.00

“I owe you thirteen bucks, Paul”

“Yep, sounds about right”

I reached into my pocket “I’ve only got a buck twenty in my pocket. I’ll take the candle now and come back with some more money to clear my debt.”

“Ok” said Paul with a smile.

A lady sitting behind him said with a smile “we take cards too, darling.”

“No money on the cards” I replied and darted out the door.

I was back forty-five minutes later. I don’t drive, or own a car. It’s all walking for me. And I got stuck in the rain twice. Once on the way there, and again on the way back.

“They got me” I said to Paul.

“Who did?”

“The Rain Gods”

He laughed as I wiped my glasses on my green woollen scarf made in Tasmania that I bought in Hobart one time.

“You have a box! I love boxes!” said the Lady, I never caught her name, but I will in time.

“Have a look inside”

“Really?”

“Of course”

It was a small wooden box I found on the street that someone had chucked away. The Lady opened the box.

“It’s FULL of one dollar coins!” she gleefully announced!

“Ya know how much Gold is in an Australian one dollar coin?” I asked her

“No?”

“None. It's mostly copper, a little bit of brass and some tin”

“We used to take copper to the dealers when I was a little girl!” she said “we’d tie the wires between two posts and strip off the plastic; it was so much fun!” The lady had kind hair and her memories of youth were with her in that single heartbeat of hers.

“Yep,” I replied. “If you melted this copper you get more than a buck for it but it’s..”

“Illegal” she said

“Yes, it's Illegal to melt Legal Tender.”

We all smiled.

Ok, so now back to the box.

“Ya wanna see something, Paul?”

“Sure” He replied.

I showed him the one dollar coin I’d gave him earlier. Listed for a minimum bid of $2.50.00 on eBay. His eyes widened a little, but not too much.

“Yep” He said.

“The LIFESAVING dollar coin”

He looked at it again and smiled. It shows a little man riding a board in the waves.

I pulled out my box and started counting coins. APEX, Kangaroo, Father of Federation, THONGS, WINNING WORLD WAR II; a dollar coin for all sorts of occasions.

“This one has a kangaroo on it.” I said to Paul.

“Yep”

“But on the other side there’s a stamp of Queen Elizabeth wearing the crown from 1984 – I like that coin, because she was so much younger then, Princess Dianna was still alive, and it was one year before my birth.”

“Is that so.” Said Paul.

“Now, Queen Lizzy still wears that hat that could end world hunger easily and she reads speeches to the world about poverty while wearing it.”

“Yeah, fuck ‘em” said Paul.

“It’s a whole other thing” I replied quietly, not to upset him.

When I’d counted out eight bucks on the counter Paul said “Eight, we’re square.” He took the coins with his tattooed hands. Thick fingers with scars. And he put all the coins in the cash register and sat back down.

I like Paul :)