A penny for your thoughts

Penny, penny
easily spent,
copper brown
and worth one cent.

I was in a parking lot the other day, when I spotted a grimy old penny beside my car. I don't know about you, but I'm always in a quandary when I see unclaimed money lying on the street. Do I pick it up or do I pass by?

Now, I've read way too many Amar Chitra Kathas and listened to too many Hindu moral stories to not be perplexed about certain issues. Here's my predicament: what if goddess Lakshmi chooses that very moment to fly by and watches me walk away from that penny without a backward glance? She might mistake my honesty for arrogance and abandon me. Not a good situation.

What if, on the other hand, she spots me picking up the coin and thinks, after all that she's done for me, money has made me greedy? She might want to teach me a lesson and abandon me. Not a good situation, either.

If the said object in question on the street, however, were something remotely edible, there's no question what I would do. I would lie in the parking lot and lick, scrape it off the street. Which is what I do on my daily walks. Be it a bird or another creature that's been run over about 10,000 times by passing cars, I refuse to leave it adhered to the asphalt.

Humans are mortified when I pick carcasses off the street. I don't understand what the big deal is. That dead chicken in your sandwich is also a carcass, right? Besides, compared to the Purina crap I'm served twice a day, this baked-by-the-summer-sun stuff is so much better. It's 100% organic, free of pesticides and genetically modified material.

Best of all, it's free!