June Sparrow and the Million-Dollar Penny Read online

  This was it. The Big One.

  She turned to Indigo, who was staring at her as if he already knew.

  “I found it,” she whispered.

  “We’ve got the 1943. It’s for real, Indigo. We can go home!”

  Indigo leaped into her arms and started licking her face madly. She giggled and they rolled around on the bed together, the 1943 penny clutched tightly in her hand. She sat up and stared at the penny again as Indigo ran circles around her on the bedspread. It had been right there in her purse the whole time! Her mother hadn’t cashed it in after all! She didn’t know what had really happened, but June Sparrow was never going to give up this penny until she sold it to the highest bidder.

  “The real Dakota, here we come!” she said to Indigo.

  Suddenly she remembered the list, and pulled it out of her pocket.

  J.S. 2 R.B. 4 B.D.

  “J.S.,” June said slowly. “Just like in Moses’s truck . . . it could be June Sparrow or Jimmy Sparrow.”

  “And 2—two—the two of us, maybe? 2 R.B.—two or to. But to what?”

  June gasped. “Wait a minute, Indigo!” Indigo’s ears were sticking straight up and his curly tail started to wiggle. “If it’s to, not two, then it’s to R.B.—to Red Bank! June and Jimmy Sparrow to Red Bank! Do you think that’s it, Indigo?”

  Indigo’s tail was going in mad circles.

  “To Red Bank 4—for—B.D.—birthday! That has to be it, Indigo! We figured it out! June Sparrow to Red Bank for Birthday! J.S. 2 R.B. 4 B.D.!”

  Indigo squealed loudly.

  “She wanted to bring us back to Red Bank for my birthday! She wanted to show me everything, Indigo! Moses’s truck, the La-Z-Boy, ice cream for breakfast, even the silo!”

  June turned over the piece of paper to look at the empty circle drawn in red marker. She gently placed the 1943 penny in the circle.

  “A perfect fit,” she breathed. “The Big One. But . . . but”—June looked at Indigo—“I still don’t get it. If she wanted to give me up for adoption, then why—”

  The door slammed downstairs.

  June started to run for the stairs, then stopped. She didn’t want Aunt Bridget or Bob to be worried about her, but she had to be careful with the information she’d just figured out. She didn’t have to tell anybody she had the Big One. What if Aunt Bridget wanted to take it away? Or Bob thought half of the money belonged to him? And if her mother hadn’t wanted to keep her in the first place, what was June supposed to think about any of this? She put a finger to her lips to warn Indigo to be quiet. He looked at her questioningly but followed as she crouched out of sight at the top of the stairs. She needed time to think things through.

  “You sit,” she heard Bob say to Aunt Bridget. “I’ll get the whiskey.”

  Indigo and June exchanged a look. They had never seen Aunt Bridget drink before. Maybe it was medicinal, like the teaspoon Bob had given her after the silo accident. She heard glasses clink on the counter and liquid being poured, and it sounded like a bit more than a medicinal dose. June peeked through the railings at the top of the stairs. She couldn’t see their faces, but she could see Aunt Bridget from the back as she sat in the armchair. She hadn’t even taken off her rubber boots, and there was a pool of water gathering on the hearthrug in front of her, but for once she didn’t seem to care. Bob came over with the whiskey and handed her the glass, patting her shoulder with his other hand.

  Aunt Bridget took a sip, then leaned her head forward into her hands, and her shoulders started to shake. June couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Bob patted her shoulder. “She’ll be fine, Bridget. I’m sure she’s indoors somewhere by now.”

  “You think I’m just going to sit here?” Aunt Bridget sobbed. “When that little girl is out there in the snow? If anything happens to her, I just—I don’t know what I’ll do, Bob. She’s so much like Roseanne, it felt like my second chance.”

  June couldn’t take it anymore. She started to her feet, but there was a knock at the door and Aunt Bridget sprang up. “Maybe it’s the police!” she said.

  The police! June sank back into her hiding place. She was going to be in more trouble than she ever thought possible. She clutched the penny tightly. Would they even let her leave the state?

  Aunt Bridget opened the door and there was Joe, snow on his hat and jacket, and he was pushing Moses’s wheelchair.

  “Is she here?” Joe asked. “After you called, I drove the tractor all around the state park. Then I came here and saw Moses parked down near the bottom of the drive, so he followed me up here in his truck.” Joe’s eyes were wide as he looked from Bob to Aunt Bridget.

  The wheels on Moses’s wheelchair were covered with snow, but unlike Joe, Moses had a smile on his face. “Everything all right now?”

  “Moses!” called June, and she tore down the stairs, unable to take it anymore. But instead of landing in his arms, she found herself in Aunt Bridget’s, who held her as if she would never let her go. Aunt Bridget was crying and everyone was talking at once and Indigo ran circles around all of them, curly tail sticking straight up in the air.

  After the police had been called, and June had been scolded and hugged by Aunt Bridget, they all settled around the big gas heater in the living room with mugs of hot cocoa. June hadn’t had a chance to tell them everything that had happened, but it was enough for now to see how happy Aunt Bridget was to have June home safe. Looking around the circle of faces, June realized that she had to tell them about her discovery. She caught Moses’s eye, and as if he knew she had something momentous to say, he held up his hand for quiet, and everyone looked at him, then over at June as he nodded at her.

  June took a big breath and fished into her pocket for the penny, where she had been touching it every few minutes to be sure it was real. She held it out for them to see. Then she pulled her mother’s magnet out of the other pocket and held the penny up to it. It dropped from the magnet into her palm. Bob and Joe gasped, Moses grinned even wider, and Aunt Bridget looked confused, glancing from one to the other.

  “Is this one of your and Roseanne’s pennies?” she asked, turning to Bob.

  “If that’s what I think it is, it’s only Roseanne’s,” Bob said in a reverent voice. “But how?” He held out his hand. “May I?”

  June nodded and handed it to him, and Joe practically jumped out of his chair to look over his shoulder. Bob whistled low and long. “So she never did sell it after all,” he murmured. “I wonder . . . I wonder . . .”

  “It’s the real thing—1943?” Joe’s voice cracked as he stared at the penny shining in the center of Bob’s broad hand.

  June nodded. “It’s the Big One, Joe.”

  Joe shook his head in disbelief and Aunt Bridget looked a bit annoyed. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” She sounded more like her old self, and June grinned.

  “My mom found that penny thirteen years ago,” June explained. “We thought it was gone, but . . .” She looked at Bob, who carefully handed it to Joe. Joe held the penny up to the light as if he was looking at a rare diamond, and June gave him the magnet. “But I found it again tonight, and it turns out”—she looked at Aunt Bridget—“I think that my mom meant to give it to me all along. And . . .” She paused. “This penny is worth a whole lot of money.”

  Moses had a sober look on his face, and he caught June’s eye with a questioning look. She stopped talking and looked down at Indigo, who gazed up at her from his warm spot in her lap. He looked so comfortable there, like he was home at last.

  June took a moment to look around the circle. Bob was looking like a big shaggy dog with sad eyes but happy all the same. Joe had his mouth partly open, still stunned by the find. He kept holding the magnet to the penny and watching it drop. Every time it fell into his hand he gasped, then did it again. Aunt Bridget looked confused, but she waited for June to finish what she had to say. Finally June turned to Moses, who gave her a look as long and deep as the night she had been through. She knew that whatever
she said next, he would understand.

  “So it looks like I’m rich again,” June said slowly. “Maybe not quite as rich as before, but a lot richer than I was when I got here. It’s enough money for me to go back home.”

  “Before you say anything else,” Aunt Bridget said with a loud sniff, “I owe you an apology.”

  “What for?” asked June.

  “Bob told me that you saw Roseanne’s Penny Book today.” She held up her hand before June could protest. “It’s all right. It belongs to you.”

  June looked at Bob, who gave her an encouraging nod.

  “But what I’m most sorry about,” Aunt Bridget continued, “is that you read those torn-out pages. I tore those pages out years ago because I was ashamed of myself. I was trying to hide an old quarrel between your mother and me. I guess it’s no secret that we were all a little shocked when Roseanne and Jimmy ran off and got married.” Here she gave Moses a look. “And then you came along right after they were married. You were a honeymoon baby—”

  “A honeymoon baby?” June stared at Aunt Bridget.

  “Roseanne and I might not always have agreed about everything. After all, I was the one to bring her up after our parents died. We were just a couple of teenagers when we lost them, so when Roseanne eloped at eighteen, then announced she was pregnant—well, I thought she was too young for all that responsibility.” Aunt Bridget took a deep breath. “Your father left town on a business trip right after they found out she was pregnant, and I hate to admit it, but I didn’t trust him to come back for her. I told her to give you up for adoption—”

  “You told her—”

  “I was wrong!” Aunt Bridget looked helplessly at June. “I’ve never been more wrong in my life! I was only nineteen myself, but Roseanne never forgave me. That’s why we never talked after she left town. That’s why she never came to visit. But you have to know that she always wanted you and loved you.”

  June dug into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the list. She unfolded it carefully and looked at the rest of them.

  “I think that my mom was planning on coming to visit,” she said. “I think she was planning to come visit with me.”

  Aunt Bridget’s eyes filled with tears and she put a hand to her mouth.

  “All of her favorite things to do in Red Bank were written on a page she tore out from the Penny Book all those years ago.” She looked at Moses. “That’s how I know she wanted to come back home.”

  June took a deep breath and began to read the list aloud:

  “‘J.S. 2 R.B. 4 B.D.’ That part was the hardest,” June said. “But I think me and Indigo finally figured it out: J.S.—June Sparrow, or Jimmy Sparrow, or both of us—2 R.B. 4 B.D.—to Red Bank for birthday.” June took a big breath. “I think that this list was what she wanted to give me for my birthday, though I don’t know which birthday she was planning on.

  Travel inside a beehive

  Climb a ladder to the top of the world

  Hug my oldest friend

  Eat ice cream for breakfast

  Take a ride on the La-Z-Boy express

  Find metal that won’t stick to a magnet

  Let gonebyes go bye-bye”

  June stopped reading.

  “I guess some of the things on this list aren’t so hard to do if you live in Red Bank,” she said slowly. “But I think my mom was planning on showing me all of them. I was so sure the list was going to lead me to the Big One, and that the Penny Book would explain everything once I got it back. But I was wrong about that. I found out something from the Penny Book that maybe I wasn’t supposed to find out about. . . .” She looked at Aunt Bridget. “But there’s still some things left on the list, and even though my mom’s not here to do them, I think I can check them off for both of us.” June hesitated, and Indigo nuzzled her elbow in encouragement.

  “This one is for you,” she said to Bob. “Hug my oldest friend.” June gave Bob a big hug, and she could feel his face burning red in embarrassment.

  Joe was standing right next to Bob, and on an impulse, June gave him a quick hug as well. “And you’re my newest friend,” she said simply. Joe blushed even brighter than Bob and pulled his cap a little lower, but June could see his smile.

  Then she turned to Aunt Bridget. “And I think the very last thing on the list is for you. ‘Let gonebyes go bye-bye.’” She held out her arms to Aunt Bridget, and this time they both started crying though neither of them had meant to. When they stopped hugging, June handed the list to Aunt Bridget, who stared at it in amazement.

  June looked down at Indigo, who gazed steadily at her. “Indigo is my very best friend,” she said slowly, “and Indigo and I have decided . . . even though we might be millionaires, and we miss the bright lights and the big city”—Indigo smiled up at her—“we think we would miss all of you even more. We’ve decided to stay right here for now.”

  Aunt Bridget gave a small shriek and kissed June, then each of them in turn. (June wondered how much whiskey Aunt Bridget had drunk to go this far!) But Moses was smiling broadly, and June went on, “I think that it would be nice to have Christmas here with all of you, and maybe”—she winked at Bob—“maybe we can put some of this money away as a nest egg, you know, for college or something, after we have a really special Thanksgiving feast.”

  It was the best Thanksgiving June had ever had.

  The penny was worth even more than they had hoped, and even after setting up two college funds (one for Joe and one for herself), June still had plenty left over. She sent a large Christmas basket to the prison where Mr. Mendax was spending the next ten years, and an even larger one to Shirley Rosenbloom in Long Island City. But she decided that instead of lots of presents, she wanted to give everyone in Red Bank something that would last forever. So with Aunt Bridget’s help she formed the Indigo Bunting Vaudeville Palace Fund to reopen the old movie house on Main Street, and Miss June Sparrow made such a sizable donation that it was able to open just before Christmas. Joe’s mother was hired as manager, and it turned out that she was just as nice as Joe. The plan was for Joe’s mom to work in the box office, Aunt Bridget would keep track of expenses, and June would run the concessions stand. June even got the Metropolitan Opera from New York to agree to put the Indigo Bunting Vaudeville Palace on their list of movie houses that would show operas onscreen, live from New York!

  The first opera to come to town was La Bohème, which was beyond perfect, and June kept telling everyone, “Me and Indigo saw this opera the night we left New York, before anything had happened.”

  They all got dressed up to go downtown for the show. Indigo wore his top hat and June wore her black dress with pink tulle, just like on her birthday night at the Met. Joe’s mother surprised them with an indoor/outdoor strip of red carpet that led from the curb to the door of the theater. Moses drove June and Aunt Bridget right to the front, and Bob snapped pictures of their arrival. The camera flashed constantly despite Aunt Bridget’s loud protests that she hated having her picture taken. Joe was now officially on staff at the school paper, and he was covering the event. June and Indigo granted the paparazzi a brief interview, and it turned out that Moses loved to pose for the camera. Everyone in town was there. Even Mr. Fitzroy came (with Ms. Huff as his date!) and as they walked by, June pulled out a piece of paper, swiped it with Sticky Glue, and stuck it onto his back.

  The sign read, “I Am in Detention.”

  Joe made sure that Bob got a picture of that for the school paper.

  There was one more surprise: as the film began, there was a closeup of a beautiful Japanese woman all in white, Yoko Ono! She was introducing the performance to the audience, live from the Met!

  “I hope you will all enjoy this beautiful opera,” she said in her distinctive voice that was almost a whisper. Then she looked directly at the camera, and as if she was looking right at June Sparrow, she brushed her index finger against her nose.

  June gasped. Yoko couldn’t have known that June would see that, could she? />
  June looked at Indigo, who brushed a trotter across his little pink snout and winked. June giggled and hugged him even closer.

  Indigo Bunting adjusted his top hat, and the orchestra began to play.

  Acknowledgments

  This book would not exist without the love and support of many people. I am grateful beyond measure to Erin Cox (agent extraordinaire), Rob Weisbach (the Boss), Alessandra Balzer (editor extraordinaire), Kelsey Murphy, Janet Frick, Renée Cafiero, and the whole team at Balzer and Bray, the Vermont Studio Center, the Wertheim Study at the New York Public Library, Fairleigh Dickinson University, the Scott family of Hillside Farm, Ruby Tyng, Eliot Schrefer, Donna Freitas, Rene Steinke, David Grand, Martha McPhee, Sara Powers, Annik LaFarge, Jennifer Collins, Leslie Gat, Louis Begley, Kate Doyle, Tim Weiner, my mother, and all my sisters (you know who you are). I read the first chapter aloud to Amy Edwards and hold her spirit with me. A special thank-you to Ken Buhler and Rebecca Magid—Ken for creating a penny book and Rebecca for saying, “Mom, that would be a great idea for a book!” This one is for Ken and the girls, with extra thanks for the salted caramels Ken doled out whenever I finished a chapter. In every way, I have never had it so good.

  About the Author

  REBECCA CHACE is an author who has previously written for adults. Her books include a memoir, Chautauqua Summer (a New York Times Notable Book), and two novels: Leaving Rock Harbor (a New York Times Editors’ Choice) and Capture the Flag. She is also the author of plays and screenplays and has written for the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Sunday Book Review, the Huffington Post, and other publications, and has contributed to NPR’s All Things Considered. She is director of creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University and lives in Brooklyn.

  Learn more about Rebecca at www.rebeccachace.com.

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