MY MOTHER FOUND A QUARTER
by
Doris Ray

In 1949 my mother found a quarter a twenty-five cent piece Made from real silver in those days It glinted in the dust-draped folliage bordering the dirt road where she trekked weekly to pick up mail purchase groceries and makings for the handrolled cigarettes she and Dad both smoked in those days Mom ensconsed the coin inside her coat pocket separate from the money for essentials Nothing much left for extras in those days With a shopping bag in each hand she paused halfway home to pull out the packet of what she'd purchased with her windfall Dad would have his roll-your-owns but my mother indulged in a genuine tailor-made cigarette