Advertisement
Voices
Emily Menez and Theora Kvitka

Op-comic: A personal case against eliminating the penny

By Emily Menez and Theora KvitkaGuest contributors 
Grandma Dollee died within a month of the doctor finding two masses in her lungs.
She prayed God would take her quickly. God fast-tracked her request.
Before she died, one of her favorite pastimes was sitting at the table with Mom and me, laughing.
Grandma was physically diminished but wanted to sit with us, even if she could only have one sip of coffee.
Advertisement
After she died, I wasn't prepared to find her penny collection. She believed stuffing them in the bible brought good luck.
The bibles were stuffed with prayer requests, which read like a polite but emotionally repressed diary.
Grandma was unusually honest with me in her final days. She told me about the messy and fascinating parts of her life.
It was the closest I ever felt to her.
There were twenty dollars worth of pennies in Grandma's bibles. I cashed them in to buy Mom and me coffee.

Emily Menez is a writer in New York, and Theora Kvitka is a cartoonist in California.

More to Read

Opinion VoicesContributors

More From the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement