A Penny's Worth by Nancy DeRosa

now.”
    “I’ll make a really good cheerleader.”
    While Ron fetched the Chinese food, she
wiped another tear from her eye. She had never had such a soulful conversation
with her father. She felt a rush of happiness consume her. All this time, he’d
given her more mind share than she had realised. Her heart felt warmer, just
like when her Dad would warm milk for her in the middle of the night when she
couldn’t sleep.
    The meal they shared that evening was one
of the most memorable ones she could recall.

Chapter 18
    She was up early the next morning to walk Winston. The
wind had a bite to it and she watched the autumn leaves dance on the sidewalk
in front of her apartment. It wouldn’t be long before she saw snow on the
ground.
    Looking at her watch, she emitted a long
yawn. Five-thirty in the morning and she’d already had breakfast and coffee.
She had to be at work by six. She watched Winston sniff around the bushes.
    Someone was bending over a bush just five
feet away, scooping up a pile of poop with an old newspaper bag. Penny’s
neighbor Sarah straightened up, saw her, and smiled cautiously. Winston barked
madly in excitement upon seeing his old friend.
    “Hello Sarah, what brings you out so
early?” Penny asked. Winston had begun to sniff Brutus with great glee. She
laughed nervously. “It’s been a dog’s age since I last saw you.”
    Sarah smiled weakly at her poor attempt
at a joke, and offered dryly, “Yes.” A long pause and then, “It has been a
while.”
    “So… how are you?” Penny tried to appear
interested in what she would say. Perhaps a new reality show had just premiered
and she could get a blow-by-blow description. She prepared herself for another
boring onslaught. Except…Sarah looked wonderful. Her once mousy brown hair was
longer and had streaky highlights. Her eyebrows had been plucked thinner,
giving a more delicate balance to her face. Gods, she was even wearing make-up.
    “I’m peachy,” Sarah announced. “I have a
boyfriend!”
    “That’s great.” Penny took a step back. A
sensation of shock went right to the very soles of her feet. “How did you meet
him?”
    “Oh, at the dog park,” The beginning of a
smirk tickled its way cheekily onto the corner of Sarah’s face. She knew Penny was surprised. “You should try going there sometime. I’ve met so many
interesting people while Brutus plays.” The smirk was now planted firmly on her
face.
    Remembering her close altercation with
the tattoo lady, Penny lightly replied, “Yeah, I should go back. I haven’t been
there in a while.”
    They walked down the street together with
their happy dogs trotting behind.
    “My boyfriend is really wonderful,” Sarah
gushed. “We hit it off immediately. He’s warm, thoughtful, funny, and well, to
tell you the truth,” she said with a short laugh, “The sex is mind-altering.”
    Penny stopped walking and looked at Sarah
with wide eyes. No point attempting to hide her shock. “Wow, that’s a whole lot
of information you just gave me. But I can see how quickly life can change for
the better.” She could not believe that timid, boring Sarah was having a
fabulous sex life and bragging about it. An awful feeling of jealousy took
hold. She wanted to whirl around and slap that sappy, happy face right off her
neighbor. Penny knew how meanspirited this sudden impulse was, but she couldn’t
help it. She wanted mind-altering sex for herself.
    “Life is full of possibilities,” she
burbled on. She appeared unaware of Penny’s violent thoughts toward her. She
spread her arms wide. “Having someone care about me has created a whole new
outlook on life.”
    Penny reckoned Sarah’s declaration would
work well on a Hallmark card. She was so ashamed of the thought that she added
quickly, “You really have a way with describing how you feel.”
    She faced Penny with a serious
expression, one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised. “Having someone in my life
has changed