Tim Jackson
The Armistice Coin by Tim JacksonISBN: 0-9720604-0-5 Library of Congress Control No. 20022107945 Copyright 2002, Tim Jackson 188 pages, soft cover, 6" x 9" $16.95 |
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It is 1945 and the world is waiting for the armistice to be signed, ending WW II. At the exact second the pen touches paper in Tokyo Bay, at the Denver mint, a quarter is minted. An inspector touches the coin, feeling its warmth when it should already be cool. Suddenly, her life changes for the better. Good things happen and the only explanation she can think of is the silly little quarter that is dinged and “just a touch off,” as she puts it. The coin disappears and turns up again in the late 1980s in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. What happens when it is found this time changes several lives and makes for a wonderful adventure, filled with good fortune for all who come in contact with The Armistice Coin. Most of us have had a lucky charm, or something, that we felt brought us good luck. It could have been a rabbit’s foot, a coin, or just some small item that we found as good things happened to us. We kept it as long as we could and then one day, it disappeared.
Tim Jackson & Fairway
Tim Jackson decided, in his early fifties, to stop the corporate merry-go-round. He has traveled the country on the back roads. With his wife, Sharon, and his dog Fairway, he has traveled from Florida to Alaska, visiting small towns and large cities. Much of his time was spent in San Antonio, Texas, listening to his mother tell stories of her youth and family experiences. These stories have become the source for this book, and hopefully for more books to follow. He has taken a short story and created a fictional adventure that will carry the reader throughout this beautiful land we call America. At this time , Tim and Sharon reside in rural Alaska. The remarkable beauty of The Great Land, as it is called, provides the inspiration and adventure for Tim to write.
It was a cool morning in Denver on September 2, 1945; the day that General Douglas MacArthur, and other top military officials from the major powers, stepped aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay and signed the treaty to end World War II. All America was on pins and needles awaiting the word from Washington that the treaty was signed and there would be peace in the world. There seemed to be an aura covering the earth and people sensed that something special was taking place and that “something special” would change the world. It was a ‘quarter’ day at the U. S. Mint in Denver. Quarter day was simply the day that the mint produced quarters, instead of dimes, nickels, or pennies. The production run was scheduled to start at 5:30 in the evening, just after the day shift finished the changeover of the equipment. There was a little problem on the day shift, however. It seems that the mix of silver that was supposed to go into the quarters being minted could not be set properly. It took the set-up crew until almost 6:15 to get the mixture perfect for the quarter run. By the time the evening shift started and the equipment was ready to roll, it was about 7:45. At the precise second that the stamping die dropped onto the first blank piece of silver and nickel, the pen being used to sign the first name on the treaty for world peace scratched it’s inky signature on the paper in Tokyo Bay. What no one in the world realized was that for a milli-second, just a milli-second, the whole world stopped. It stopped to celebrate the magic of the ink scratching on that paper and the fact that for the first time since anyone cared to remember there would be no more mass destruction due to war. Even the equipment in Denver stopped and that first quarter that was minted was just a little off. It looked like a regular quarter to the casual observer, but in reality it was just a little different. The casual observer would never notice it, but the raised letters and numbers were minutely out of position and there were little dings on the edges that could not be altered by the equipment that was designed to do exactly that. As the quarter passed swiftly through the inspection equipment, it was automatically removed from the mainstream and thrown onto a table for coins that were not within the proper standards. This is something that happens to many coins throughout the production process during a normal production day. But, this was not a normal shift or day. For on this shift on this day, the only quarter that did not meet the required standards was the first quarter produced. Every other quarter produced that day was perfect. This was the first and last time in the history of the mint that this phenomenon took place. Marie Collins, the inspector, picked up the dinged-up quarter and looked at it through the big magnifying glass. It was immediately evident that the lettering and wording were just a “touch off” as she called it. She felt something as she handled the quarter. It was warm to the touch and felt almost alive. By the time coins got to this point in the system, they were cooled down, so the warmth of the coin surprised her. She could not determine what it was, but she held the coin for a few seconds, rubbing it gently and feeling the warmth, before she set it aside and went on to her other duties. She had every intention of going back to touch and feel the coin again, but wonderful things started happening to her and she never got the time. Her life had been such a mixture of problems lately that she began to think it would never get back in good order. There was the sickness of her husband and how it affected their finances, the misbehavior of her son in school and how it affected their lives at home, and finally the tedium of her job. Things were going poorly for Marie, that is, until she touched that special coin that was minted during the milli-second of wonder. Things began to change so rapidly that she was astounded. Just seconds after touching the coin, she received a call from her husband. His illness had finally been diagnosed as an unusual flu virus. The latest medicine the doctor proscribed was working. He was feeling better and planning on going back to work tomorrow. This did not seem like a big thing to her co-workers, but it sure was to her. They were running low on money and were just about at the end of their wits. The timing was definitely critical for them. She no sooner hung up the phone when she was called into her supervisor’s office. He told her she would be promoted to a Senior Inspector, because of her exemplary work record. For the life of her she could not determine what she had done that was so outstanding. She simply came to work on time everyday, never complained and always seemed happy doing what she was paid to do. The two events changed her whole attitude towards her work and life, but the really big thing happened when she arrived home that evening. A note was waiting for her from her son’s teacher. The note was a glowing report on his behavior and attitude that week. The boy’s teacher went so far as to say that if his present behavior and interest in class continued, he would be one of her better students. Marie never got back to look at the coin again...and neither did anyone else in the mint. The material handler in the coin inspection room was moving a load of boxes with his hand truck when he accidentally backed into the small inspection table. The single coin on the table flew off and rolled across the floor. Its path seemed to be almost predestined as it rolled right in between a small crevice in a pallet of silver dollars that was wrapped and ready for shipment. No one heard the coin hit the floor or roll because of all the noise in the room. It was almost like the coin’s work, at this location was done and it was time for it to move on. No one would even notice its disappearance because Marie, the inspector, had forgotten all about it. Little did she know that the coin was special, a ‘dinger,’ as was everything else that happened in that magnificent milli-second, when the world stood still, and world peace began.
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