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Continue from Episode 12
Mr. Briggs indicated the roll of paper he was holding. “Interested in seeing what my next one is fixing to look like?”
Lauren had no idea what he meant, but he was smiling, which had to be a good sign. She nodded fervently.
Mr. Briggs crossed his office in four strides, settling behind his desk and unrolling the blue-tinged paper, beckoning Lauren over and guiding her to stand in front of him, both looking down at a series of scribbled lines, measurements, and pencil marks that had been erased and rewritten so many times they looked more like smudges than calculations.
Lauren studied the plans thoughtfully. “Where will you put the lady?”
“What lady?”
“That’s on all the other buildings.” Lauren scurried out from behind his desk to point at the models. “She’s here on this one, and here on this one. She’s on all of them.”
Lauren jabbed her finger at the circle hidden in the design of every building, inside of which was featured a short-haired woman’s profile, a crown of spikes above her head.
Mr. Briggs squinted to make sure they were looking at the same thing, then threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll be darned! Junior spent his whole life, hours in this office pretending to listen to me, and he never once noticed!”
“Who is she?” Lauren returned to the desk.
“That’s Lady Liberty herself, straight off the face of the 1924 Peace Dollar!”
“It’s a dollar?” Lauren wrinkled her nose. She was used to dollars coming in bills. Not engraved into the side of buildings.
“Silver dollar. Minted the year I was born. In honor of there finally being peace in Europe. Only coin ever issued by the U.S. Mint in honor of peace. It’s the dollar my daddy got paid with right before he learned he’d finally gotten himself a son. Four older sisters; Daddy was getting antsy. Figured that dollar was his lucky charm. Held onto it, never spent it, passed it on to me when I was 14.”
“For luck?” Lauren guessed.
“Year I turned 14 wasn’t very lucky for my daddy — 1938, the Depression hit us hard. Daddy finally lost his farm. Couldn’t keep making the payments. Had to go work for someone else, but there wasn’t enough money to take care of everybody at home. I was the only boy, so Daddy decided it best I hit the road, maybe do better for myself someplace else. He gave me the dollar, told me to hold onto it; it’d bring me luck.”
“Did it?” Lauren drew closer, wanting to hear more of the story.
“I held onto that dollar, refused to spend it no matter how hungry I got. I’d be sleeping in the street, thinking, I’m not broke, I’ve got a silver dollar hidden in my boot. I’d steal before I spent it. Problem is, when an entire country is going through hard times, not very much left to steal, even if you’re desperate enough to try.
“Finally, one night, I couldn’t take it any more. Felt like I’d hit the end of the road. Hadn’t worked for weeks, hadn’t eaten for days. Getting so weak, figured even if I did manage to scrounge up another job – and I’d done everything, picked lettuce, shoveled coal, cut down trees, cleaned outhouses; never been too good for any job, don’t expect I ever will be.
“But, I figured even if I did manage to scrounge something up, a few more days hungry and I wouldn’t have the strength to do it right. Then where would I be? So I made up my mind. Looked around for the cheapest cafe I could find, stumbled in, lay my lucky silver dollar down on the counter. Hoped Daddy would understand.” Mr. Briggs turned to face Lauren, his expression now more wistful. “Know what happened next?”
Continue to Episode 14
About the Author
Alina Adams wrote the “As the World Turns” tie-ins, “Oakdale Confidential” and “The Man From Oakdale,” and co-wrote “Guiding Light’s” “Jonathan’s Story.” She was the Creative Content Producer for “Another World Today,” and worked on the 2013 relaunches of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live.” Her books include romance novels, figure skating murder mysteries, and the historical family saga, “The Nesting Dolls,” from HarperCollins. Read more at: AlinaAdams.com
