OK, this heres what happened.
It had been a hot week but this evening the western sky was streaked with red after a rainy day with a few thunderstorms but the heat was gone. A cold front had just pushed through that day. It was early in the season and the weather was really nice. The rain had stopped a few hours earlier and the clouds were quickly moving away to the east where the sky was darker. There they were still occasionally lit by a distant flash of lightening, much too far away to hear a rumble of thunder even without the roar of the crowd and the stamping of feet on metal bleachers. It was one of those early autumn days that people everywhere love, ripe with the first hint of the cold weather to come. The air was clean and clear and after the hazy heat and humidity of summer and it put everyone in a great mood.
Both football teams were pumped, excited, and ready for this day, for the first game of the season. The fans were mostly still standing after the prayer and the singing of the national anthem... a few of the older fans had settled under lightweight blankets but most were still in shirtsleeves and loving it... what a great time to be alive!
The referee was a 35yo man named Tom. Tom was feeling good too. In moments like these the good feelings are always contageous. He was smiling as he turned his lucky halfdollar around in his hand feeling its familiar edges and the lovely lady who was always walking on one side of it. The lady who had walked with him during his time in the war and who had helped him get back home. Tom had made it into the 11th airborne which was scheduled to be part of the force to invade the Japanese main islands. Tom was sent to a staging area in the Philippines where he spent a lot of time thinking and turning his halfdollar round and round in his hand. He was spared what was certain to be a horror when two bombs ended the war.
Tom made it to Japan safely and had a good time on the dock fiddling with his halfdollar watching a crew film General MaCarthur come ashore, he and his friends had been in Tokyo for a week. Tom finally made it back to his home safely along with his lucky lady.
Tom always carried his halfdollar.
Tom told the team captains to play a fair game and asked for one of the boys to call heads or tails...
The coin toss went well. The call was tails and tails it was. The players ran off the field with a shout. Tom was smiling, caught up in the moment. He began to trot off to his position when he dropped his coin! Alas... he looked around quickly but he couldn't find it. He had no idea which way it went and he didn't have time to search everywhere as the starting players were running onto the field. Tom thought to himself, "DANG!!!..." but as someone once said, "time waits for no man" and time didn't wait for Tom that evening. He trotted off into position thinking that it is big and silver and he would find it at halftime.
The game began with a short kickoff and a good return almost to the other team's 41 yd line. On the first play, the left guard of the hometeam placed the cleats of his right shoe right on the coin (he was a big corn fed boy). The ball was snapped and the the boy's powerful leg pushed the coin deep into the muddy ground as he hit his man and pushed hard giving his quarterback all the time he needed to drop back and throw a long pass. The football flew like a bullet and floated in slow motion at the same time... and finally dropped right into the hands of a tall boy who no one now remembers. He caught the pass, stiff-armed an overmatched defensive back and ran into the endzone. The result was a 51 yard touchdown play, the first touchdown of the season, the first touchdown of a championship season.
Tom looked as best he could at halftime but could not find the coin. He forgot about the band, that they would be marching all over the field at halftime. He looked after the game until the lights were put out and he eyeballed that part of the field during every game he refereed until finally, he retired from refereeing. Tom never saw the coin again but he lived a long and happy life surrounded by children and grandchildren.
There she lay all these years waiting for you. Now the coin is yours... the lucky coin. Be careful to not let it slip from your fingers when you aren't paying attention but if it does, don't worry... it will pass on to someone else who will treasure it ... and love the lucky lady who walks on one side of it.
Julien
HH jim tn
Regardless, nice finds Tom!!
