FATHER'S DAY

     My dad has been in poor health all his life.  Cataracts,
hearing aids, bypass surgery.  He could never be a real physical
father to us because of that, which I guess is why I so need to be
touched and held now.
     He also never made much money, and I know this bothered him a
great deal, because all of my parents' close friends and relatives
seemed to enjoy higher standards of living.  We were always short
of cash and never had the new cars, or vacations that they had.   
    My dad has also always been a big "coin" guy.  He looks through
the change in his pockets every day, hoping to find a coin that is
worth something: a silver half dollar, an "error" penny, a Buffalo
nickel, something like that.  He also plays the lottery and
religiously enters contests in the mail.  Never wins anything.    
  One year, when my brother and I were in high school, we both
worked after school delivering papers, washing cars, that sort of
thing, and when we pooled our money we had something like $600.  I
went to a coin store and bought a 1955 "double die" penny, a famous
mis-struck coin.  It took all the money we'd saved.  The night
before Father's Day I sneaked upstairs and put it on his bureau,
knowing he'd look through all his change the next morning.  My
brother and I were downstairs eating breakfast with my mom when she
asked us if we'd forgotten it was Father's Day again this year. We
just shrugged. Then, she gave us a card to sign.  While we were
signing it, my dad let out a huge yelp and came flying down the
stairs. "Sarah, Richard, Howard!  Look, look, look at this!!" he
said, and lay the coin on the table, along with a coin pricing
guide.  My mom realized what the coin meant and beamed.  She looked
at me and my brother. I winked, she started to cry, and that was
the first time I remember our family truly being happy.