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Copper pennies were hard to come by these days, which was why Cognos had been receiving less and less customers. Mostly the copper was used for external coating, while the coin itself was made out of zinc. Cheap, inedible zinc.
Regardless, he set up his stall at the same time every day. Those who still possessed a copper penny to spare were few and far between, yet his service was more needed than ever. He couldn’t afford missing even a day.
His stall consisted of a rickety table, an old stool for him to sit, and a cardboard sign saying ‘PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHT’ in bold, capital letters. He only put up the sign out of habit. After doing this for decades, everyone knew what the eccentric old man in the far end of the alley did.
Cognos was not in this line of work for money. Unless you counted the penny that would disappear in his mouth the moment he received it, he didn’t charge his customers.
If anyone asked, he would say, “Not when they don’t even own their own thoughts, I couldn’t.”
So Cognos sat and waited. Hours passed without anyone walking down this alley, but he didn’t mind at all.
The sun began to dip behind the towering skyline, and stark-white buildings casted a shadow over the little setup. Cognos was about to rise and close down his stall when he noticed a figure running towards him, hands waving around trying to get his attention.
“No, wait!”
It was a young woman who now stood panting before Cognos, her hair looking like she had been running from at least three blocks away. She managed to say in between breaths, “Came here as fast as I could. Please tell me I don’t have to come back tomorrow.”
Cognos laughed, “Of course not, my girl, I’m here to help.”
The woman reached for something in her pocket and gave it to Cognos, who weighed the small coin in his palm. He smiled at the familiar weight. It was not the light, insubstantial mass of a fake penny. No, this was pure copper.
It’d been a while since he last had a customer.
“This will do,” said Cognos. He popped it into his mouth, tasting every metallic tinge of the copper penny as it melted on his tongue.
The woman was now tapping her foot in nervous anticipation. She said nothing as Cognos muttered ‘oohs’ and ‘mmhms’, raised his brows and cocked his head, all the time with his gaze fixed on her eyes.
Finally, when all that was left from the penny was its bittersweet aftertaste and Cognos stuck out his empty tongue, the woman asked timidly, “So?”
“So?” He asked her back.
“What is it? Did you see what’s in here?” She pointed at her own head.
“Oh, I forgot how lost everyone is,” Cognos muttered to himself, but then smiled reassuringly at the woman. “You have it all wrong, my dear. I may be able to see inside your head when you can’t, but that’s not where what you really want to know comes from.”
The woman frowned, seeming more confused when his fingers pointed at her chest. “My chest?”
“Your heart,” said Cognos. “The Firm may have taken over your thoughts, but your feelings stem from the heart. That’s not something they can ever control.”
“I don’t understand… My heart pumps blood, how can it also tell me what to think?”
“I was referring to the figurative heart, your soul, the thing that makes you human,” said Cognos. When the woman showed no signs of understanding, he sighed. “No matter now. Don’t worry about what I just said. I’ll tell you what you’re here for.”
She nodded, “I think you know what. I love Jerry so much, but my parents hate him and the Firm says he’s not my soulmate. They said if I don’t dump him, they will dump me. What should I do?”
“All I can say is what I’ve seen you think,” said Cognos. “You are a passionate young woman and I can tell that you feel more strongly than others do.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re thinking maybe it doesn’t matter what they tell you to think, but what you feel inside. You love who you love, my girl. If you can’t trust anything else, trust in that.”
“Are you saying… I should stay with him?”
The woman looked so bewildered that Cognos chuckled. He held out both hands as if in surrender, “I didn’t say anything. I merely voiced your thoughts.”
“Huh,” she said. Her eyes wandered around, then her lips bloomed into a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat’s. “Who would’ve thought…”
She thanked him over and over, promising she would come back one day with proper payment. Cognos insisted that her happiness was enough.
By the time the woman disappeared from the alleyway, the sun had completely gone. Cognos could still taste metal in his mouth, which he would usually savour for hours more, but today something else overpowered it.
The beam of pure, unadulterated love was so strong that in that moment, Cognos believed there was hope left for this city after all.
Thanks for reading this flash fiction online! This was first published on Deviantart.
If you enjoyed this, you might like my other flash fiction online, The Harbinger.