Lucky Penny

Everyday, well, 6 days a week, I walk in the mornings around my neighborhood-- 3 miles a day. It's so interesting what type of trash I come across-- empty fast food containers, cans, cigarette butts (lot of those), pair of shoes, candy wrappers, empty cigarette boxes, clothing, plastic and metal pieces, broken zipper handles, dinner knives, broken cds, the list goes on. What do people do? Do they just fling these items out of their car windows as they pass by? I guess the logical answer is - yes. Among these unsavory items, I have come across pennies. I have collected close to about a dollar worth of pennies, even an occasional dime or nickel. I wonder how they end up on the sidewalk or curb? Do people just get tired of hanging onto their pennies, and just fling them out of the windows too? I wonder how each time I go out there, I find a penny or two (once I found 8 pennies all scattered on the sidewalk.) Of course I pick them up. Then, the other day I found a crisp twenty dollar bill. I quickly snatched it up, put it in my pocket. When I got home, I looked at it closely, and it was very authentic looking, but for a few noticable details. There was a watermark picture of Andrew Jackson, and the number 20 was not at shiny as the original. I compared it to a real 20 and it was definitely a counterfeit. I remember seeing a report on the news about the very same type of fake bills. Of course it went into the trash.
For the most part people are polite and usually will let me pass while they wait at intersections. Not always, there are those who are just in too much of a hurry that waiting for a pedestrian for a couple of minutes is just unbearable. Also, others who walk by me will occasionally give me a "good morning". It's usually the younger kids who don't bother even looking at me. Then of course, there's John, who walks too. He is an older gentleman, usually in jeans and a t-shirt, with a pretty fast pace. He will usually stop and talk to me about the weather, or what he is planning to do that day. Such a friendly man. I wonder how many pennies he has found?
Image from: Stock Xchange