MOULTRIE, Ga. –

There’s an old saying, “money talks.” Of course that’s metaphorical.

But what if money could talk? That came to mind the other day as I picked up a penny while cleaning out some junk. It was from the 1940s, no copper sheen and well worn.

Later in the day I got to thinking about how long that penny had been around. It was not a collector’s item by any means, just moderately old. In close proximity to that event, I saw an old movie where this person had the power to touch some things, and their history would be revealed to him. In his case he touched the steering wheel of a rented car, and he saw a murder that was committed in that car.

Now back to the penny. What if the history of that coin could be revealed?

Had it traveled across the country? Had it traveled around the world?

As a kid, there was a game we used to play where we would make up stories about coins. Stuff like what it purchased, or helped purchase. Whose hands touched it? What was going on at the time? And being kids, the stories got kind of wild. But that was a time when imagination was more prevalent. That was a time when we read books and put ourselves into the stories as the main characters — assuming of course the main characters were also the heroes.  What I mean is, it was more likely we saw ourselves as Robinson Crusoe rather than his native sidekick Friday. And we certainly would have chosen Wyatt Earp over  Ike Clanton.

And so I wondered about this old penny. Could it have once been in the pocket of a fighter pilot who rushed through smoke and flames to get to his aircraft as Pearl Harbor was being bombed?

Could it have been in the pocket of a Secret Service agent in 1963 on that horrible November day in Dallas?

Maybe a kid in Yankee stadium put it in a gumball machine on a Sunday afternoon. Or who knows, maybe it was Joe DiMaggio who bought the gumball with that penny.

I’ve read a couple of reports in recent years that said much of the cash that passes through our banks could have traces of illicit drugs on it. Money is often described a being dirty. I guess that has two connotations.

Just think of the stories that could be conjured up with that kind of currency. Movie scripts could be extrapolated from them.

But a penny may not be so romanced these days. It won’t even buy a gumball. For the most part, we probably only think of a penny in a collective sense as in a sales taxes. Few people will even pick up a penny off the sidewalk. A nickel maybe. Gumball machines now require either a dime or a quarter.

I generally sort out my change and put the pennies in a jar on my dresser. When the jar gets full, I convert them to folding money — you know, the kind that might have cocaine on it.

Recently I watched people step over a dime and a nickel in a store. When I left, it was still there on the floor. Think of the stories we might have been missing.  But I’m not sure the people actually saw the coins. They were texting.

I remember one day in a grocery story when a small kid had put a nickel on his tongue. His mom screamed at him, “Get that out of your mouth. You have no idea where it’s been!”

Indeed.

(Dwain Walden is editor/publisher of The Moultrie Observer, 985-4545. Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)