Jago’s Gift

I was relaxing with a good book while Eve was out shopping for the day, when I was surprised by Jago making himself at home, walking into my living room, sipping from a beer he pulled from my kitchen refrigerator.

“Joseph!” he exclaimed in his usual greeting, “Why are you in the house with a book on such a great day like today?”

I looked up, “Why are you in my house drinking my beer, making yourself at home without knocking first?”

“Since when do I have to knock?  We never worried about locked doors years ago and we never knocked when we came in.”

I smiled, “It’s a good way to get your head lopped off or your gut punctured by a steel blade.”

He shrugged, “Well, now-a-days we are dodging bullets more than a swift blade”.

Jago moved over to the over-stuffed easy chair situated across from me.  He hopped in as he slammed down the rest of the beer in one sweeping movement.  “What are you reading anyway?”  He shook a stern yet joking finger at me, “Are you researching coin lots again?”

“So what if I am?” I asked with a quick glance upward.

“Just wondering.  Say, I always see you flipping that silver denarius between your fingers.  When was it from?”

I pulled the coin from my pocket.  “It’s an Antoninus Pius silver denarius struck about 142 years after the death of Christ.” 

I briefly imaged the sites and the sounds of that that time.  There were many different aromas and colors in that period.  I always drifted to the market place and heard the haggling and the clanging of coin because that is where all of these coins had the greatest value during that the time.

“Do you miss it?” Jago asked knowing I had drifted off to another time and place.  “Your precious House of Ancient Coins and Curios has many coins and objects to bring you to many places in your mind.  Maybe we should all go to www.ancientscoin.com and search for a place to imagine.  In the meantime, here is a present.”

Jago reached into his pocket and threw me a shiny new Lincoln penny.  “Here is a new coin for you so you will remember who you are with right now.  Put that on your web site.” he said laughing as he usually does. ”Let’s go get a beer!”