Filbert McBeevy and the Lucky Penny Chapter 1
(Chapter I – By Ron Jaffe)
It was just 10 minutes to 5. Filbert McBeevy remained quiet as a mouse and didn’t move, except for an occasional glance at the office wall clock. “Still 10 minutes to five,” he said to himself, after which his eyes returned nervously to his adding machine. The tip-tap of button presses and the grinding sounds of the adding machine handles as they were pulled, filled the room. There were loads of statements to tally and he’d never be done by then, but Filbert didn’t care; not today. He just wanted to get out of there before Mr. Blankman called him onto the carpet. Sure, Filbert had other demanding bosses during his 40 years as an accountant, but never one as mean and ruthless as Mr. Blankman.
It was 7 minutes to 5 and a silhouette appeared behind the frosted glass window of Mr. Blankman’s office. Filbert glanced at the doorknob as it slowly turned and then he quickly looked back down at his papers. He heard the door creak open and the tapping noise of footsteps coming toward his desk. “Mr. McBeevy?” “Yes, Lorraine?” “Mr. Blankman would like a word with you right away. Right away, do you hear me?” she asked matter-of-factly, before turning and walking back into Mr. Blankman’s office. “Yes..yes, I hear you,” answered Filbert under his breath, as reached his hand into his jacket pocket to make sure the envelope was still there. He looked around the room, which had suddenly become silent and momentarily saw the eyes of his co-workers who, upon making eye contact, returned to their tip-tapping and handle-crank pulling. It was 5 minutes to 5.
Filbert was not a lucky man, and despite working in the financial field for over 4 decades, he was not very careful with his money. Some say that he inherited both, his penchant for bad luck and gambling from his father who reportedly had committed suicide by shooting himself in the back 27 times. Filbert lost in a bad way last weekend, betting everything on an old nag, including not only his life savings, but also his wife’s inheritance from her mother’s passing the year before. $60,000, gone. He was worried, not so much about losing all of his family’s money, as he was about telling “Big Louie” that he was still $10,000 short and that he’d have to wait for the rest. No, it was not a good day for Filbert and it was about to get worse. It was 4 minutes to 5.
“Rap, rap, rap.” Filbert tapped lightly on the glass window of Mr. Blankman’s office door hoping that no one would hear him and he could go home. He cleared his throat and loosened his tie. “Get in here NOW, McBeevy,” bellowed a deep, impatient voice from within. Filbert pulled the door open and walked over to Mr. Blankman’s desk and looked down, trying not to make eye contact. A thick puff of cigar smoke blew onto his face. It seemed like it took forever before Mr. Blankman said anything. “You know, McBeevy, I took you in when your last boss said you were a hopeless case. HOPELESS, do you understand?” “But sir, I….” “No more excuses. You were gone for nearly 3 hours at lunch today, and there just isn’t any excuse, do you hear me? None!” “But Sir, I can….” “Quiet, McBeevy.” Filbert took a deep swallow and watched as Mr. Blankman paced for a moment behind his desk. Mr. Blankman returned to face Filbert, puffed a couple times on his cigar and then removed it from his mouth and pointed it toward him. “McBeevy, you’re fired! Filbert looked down for a moment, and then nervously mumbled. “Y…y…yes sir.” As he turned and started to walk out of Mr. Blankman’s office, he glanced at the clock. It was 5 PM.
Filbert didn’t mean to be gone for three hours. It just took that long to collect all of the money out of the three banks and the safe deposit box where the rest of the cash was. Of course, he couldn’t have told that to Mr. Blankman. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. And oh no… how was he going to tell his wife? She was already on the brink of divorce and now this?
“I’ve got exactly 30 minutes,” thought Filbert. Without even packing his desk contents, he rushed out of the office to the stairwell of the old Blankman Commerce building and quickly ran down 4 flights of stairs to the bottom. He was just about to push open the steel door leading to the busy street outside, when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed what looked light a bright, shiny penny. He bent down to pick it up and he quickly noticed it was like no penny he had ever seen before. And on one side were the words, “Rub Me for Good Luck.”
Filbert McBeevy and the Lucky Penny Chapter 2
The Penny Keeper (Chapter 2 – By Andrew Yasgur)
“Rub Me for Good Luck”, read the penny. Filbert had trouble believing what the penny read because he was already having so much bad luck lately and wondered the if the inscription on the penny would actually work. Believing that finding any penny could bring him good luck and wondering if the penny truly meant what it read, Filbert put the penny in his inside coat pocket for safekeeping.
Back at the office the banks called Blankman, a much taller and stronger man than Filbert. Unlike Filbert, Blankman always had good luck…until now. When the banks told him that the money had been withdrawn by Filbert, Blankman became so angry that he yelled so loud it was as if the glass to his office might shatter. At the same time, he clenched his fists and banged them only once on his desk, leaving deep cracks in it from the impact.
Looking at his desk, Blankman yelled, “Filbert’s going to buy me a new desk for making me crack this one!” That thief’s also gonna give me back all that money he stole!” Blankman then changed his voice to a more proud-like tone. “I’m also going to charge him a 45% ‘stealing fee’. After all this is business.” Blankman said while using his thumbs to stretch his suspenders on his shirt.
Meanwhile, hiding in a dark alley, Filbert knew he had to hide the money fast…but how… and where? He feared the worst because Blankman, the greediest person he knew, was out there looking for him and when he caught him, he feared what Blankman would do to him. Filbert knew that by hiding the money in an extremely safe place where he knew no one could find it, he would not have to worry about being caught by anyone because if they tried to hurt him, they would never find the stolen money.
Filbert then thought, “What if I turned the money into something that would make it look like I always have the money but that no one would ever see it itself? But what would I convert it into?” Out of his inside coat pocket, Filbert took out the shiny penny with the words, “Rub me for good luck”,
Hoping for some good answers, Filbert put the penny in his right hand. He then gave it a gentle rub with his left hand. Nothing happened. “You need to rub it harder,” said a gentle voice in the penny. Filbert gave a weird look at the penny. The voice spoke again to Filbert. This time it was in a slightly harsh drill sergeant tone. “Excuse me, but if you want me to grant you good luck, stop giving me that strange look on your face and rub the penny harder with that left fist of yours.”
Filbert rubbed the penny again. Nothing happened. “I said harder! Do you still want good luck?!” The voice said a harsher tone.
“YYYYYeeesss Sir.” Filbert nervously replied.
“Then rub me harder this time!” the voice said which was even harsher so it could encourage Filbert to really rub the penny. The voice then changed to a gentle voice with a British accent. “Oh, and don’t call me sir. I am the Keeper of the Good Luck Penny. You may call me Keeper.”
“Ok. Here goes nothing.” With his left fist clenched, Filbert rubbed the penny as hard as he could. Out of the penny came a small blue funnel that dissipated when Keeper appeared.
“Ah. Now that’s harder”, Keeper said. “Now I got your attention better than that sad bad luck attitude you have been having.”
Understanding what Keeper just said, he then asked him, “Why are you dressed in a business suit…and only a few inches tall?”
“Well, I am the keeper of something of monetary value. Even if it is a penny, I feel I should dress appropriately.” Keeper gently put his hands together under his chin and as he moved them toward Filbert he said, “I also feel to dress accordingly when doing business with someone. In this case…you…Filbert.”
“But why the small size…and how did you know my name?”
“It would be nice to know who I am bringing good luck to. As for my size, in order for me to bring good luck to someone, I must be discrete. I must warn you, however, that there are three things the person who rubs the penny must need to remember.
“First, I can only bring good luck to anyone who rubs the penny. That person can be of good or evil. Second, I can neither remove nor add memories to a person’s mind. Third, there is a limit on the amount of time I can bring good luck to the person who rubs the penny. I can appear from and disappear into the penny as needed when it’s the same person who rubs it each time. My giving of good luck to that person ends either when the time runs out or when the penny is rubbed by a different person, whichever comes first. Do you understand?”
“Yes Keeper,” Filbert said with a smile.
“Good. Right now what would you like done that would give you good luck?”
“I’d like to be invisible to anyone who is after the money I have,” Filbert said with a strong voice.
“Consider it done. Every time you walk past some one who is after the money you will not be seen. Now what’s the next good luck action would you like to have done?”
“Finding a way to hide all this money so I’ll know where to get it when I decide what to do with it. I also need the hiding place close by so I get to it fast if I need to,” Filbert nervous said as he picked up the moneybags.
“Ah, you have picked an easy one,” Keeper said with a smile. “Simply give the money to me to hold for you. As long as you have the penny, you can rub it and I simply give it back to you.”
“But if the time runs out or someone else picks up the penny?”
“Then the good luck becomes theirs.”
“In other words I have an easy chance of losing my good luck and having my bad return,” Filbert said while hanging his right thumb on his right cheek and the next two fingers under his right eye.
“You can remain having good luck long after I am gone,” Keeper explained feeling confident in Filbert. “All you have to do is use your current good luck wisely. Hiding you from those wanting the money, especially Blankman…no problem. Hiding the money by giving it to me so that all you have to do is carry the penny around with you…also no problem. Losing the penny or not using the money wisely…then there is a problem.”
“But how will I know when there is good time to spend the money?
“You’ll know when the time comes. That is part of the good luck.” Keeper said, again feeling confident in Filbert.
Filbert gave the money to Keeper, who then disappeared into the penny along with the money. But Filbert still wondered when he would know the right time to use the money?
Filbert McBeevy and the Lucky Penny Chapter 3
Filbert’s Big Plan (Chapter 3 – By Barbara Colaricci)
Filbert sat down on a nearby bench and began to take stock of his situation.
“Ok,” He said. “So far this week I’ve gambled away all of the money my wife and I have saved or inherited. I have not yet told her what happened.” Filbert took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t know what to say to her, she was on the verge of divorce…”
“I have also stolen $100, 000 from Blankman – and lost my job.” Filbert put his head in his hands. “And Big Louie is waiting for his $10,000. The lucky penny I found, and Keeper have saved me for the moment, but what do I do next?”
Filbert thought about the penny in his pocket and his recent bad luck. “You know”, he thought, “usually, I have awful luck, but with this lucky penny maybe I could turn this around.” He pulled the penny out of his pocket and rubbed HARD.
Keeper emerged – arms crossed like a genie, “What’s up, Filbert? What can I do for you?”
Filbert smiled, “What would you think about a little trip to see Big Louie? I have an idea.”
“No problem at all, Buddy. Let’s go.” Keeper closed his eyes and nodded his head. Seconds later, he and Filbert were standing at the door of Big Louie’s house. Filbert took a very deep breath and knocked on the heavy wooden door.
“Here goes nothing.” Filbert thought to himself as the door opened.
A very large burly man filled the doorway. “Whaddya want?”
“I’m Filbert McBeevy. I’m here to see B-b-big Louie.” Suddenly Filbert wasn’t so sure about his idea.
“Wait here, don’t yous move.” The burly man disappeared into the house and slammed the door.
“What’s your big plan, Buddy?” Keeper asked from Filbert’s pocket.
“I was hoping that you…” Filbert stopped and Keeper disappeared just as the door reopened and Big Louie himself was there.
At the moment he and Big Louie locked eyes, Filbert was terrified. What if it didn’t work?
“Well, Hello, Filbert.” Big Louie grimaced at Filbert and waited. He was as big and formidable as his name suggested. Filbert, extremely nervous but not wanting it to show, swallowed hard and hoped that he could keep his voice steady.
At that moment, there was a blinding flash of light and both Filbert and Big Louie were mesmerized.
“What the…” Big Louie began, but he was stopped by a voice emanating from the light.
“Ok, boys, that’s him. Activate the shrinking device.”
Both Big Louie and Filbert were caught up in the light and felt very strange as the things around them began to grow bigger and bigger. They were no bigger than a blade of grass when they were set back down. Filbert felt around for the lucky penny in his pocket and found it. It had been shrunk too.
He rubbed the penny HARD and waited. He didn’t expect what happened next. Keeper was as tall as he was!
“What’s going on, Keeper? Do you know what’s going on?” Filbert was nervous, afraid, and very confused.
“Yeah, who are you!?” Big Louie, who was as white and as cold as new fallen snow, demanded.
“I’m Keeper. I am the Keeper of the Lucky Penny. I’ll let Filbert fill you in on all of those details. For the moment you both are coming with us.” Keeper looked up and nodded.
At that moment, Filbert, Keeper, and Big Louie were aboard what looked like the inside of a space ship. It looked like something right out of the science fiction movies Filbert was so fond of.
“Keeper, you better have a good explanation for this.” Filbert was now very angry and even more confused. One minute he thinks Keeper is on his side, and in the next, he’s not so sure anymore.
“You boys will just have to wait and see. For now sit back and relax. We have a long way to go.”
Filbert McBeevy and the Lucky Penny Chapter 4
The Black Hammock (Chapter 4 – By Mike Barr)
“Lorraine, get in here – NOW” bellowed Mr. Blankman! “Oh Mr. Blankman” Lorraine said in a voice quivering in fear, “what can I do for you – SIR.” Blankman rolled his chair away from his desk. “You know exactly what I want, don’t dally!” “But Mr. Blankman, Sir – John is still working, please SIR, please can we wait until he’s gone,” pleaded Lorraine, “please.” “When I say NOW – I MEAN NOW!” growled Blackman. “MR. BLANKMAN, you’re getting smaller” Lorraine said. “What’s going on” a clearly shaken Blankman said in a subdued voice, “so are you.”
As their world shrank, Lorraine saw Filbert and a much larger man, even in their diminished stature. Blackman saw Filbert & Big Louie as well, “what’s going on Filbert” asked Blankman, “is that you Louie?” he asked. Lorraine said “Oh Filbert, I’m scared please tell us what’s happening” “I wish I knew, Lorraine – you’ll have to ask the Keeper.” “Big Louie you know Mr. Blankman” asked Filbert. “Oh – you can bet they do” said a suddenly appearing Keeper, “there’re partners!”