Horatio's lucky penny prelude

Horatio's lucky penny prelude by ric gustafson


Horatio slowly walked through the deep snow toward his favorite place, the warm grate by Dominick's Restaurant. It was Christmas Eve and the restaurant was quiet. He was cold and shivering and no matter how many layers of clothing he had on, he was always cold. The Italian restaurant was Horatio's favorite place to come not only because of the warm grate but also for the amount of food that they always put in the dumpster.
Horatio's hands finally warmed up as he stood over the grate. He stomped his boots which were too small for his feet and then slowly the circulation came back. He walked over to the green dumpster and peered inside. He took out some styrofoam containers that had leftover pizza, pasta and garlic bread.
Horatio closed the dumpster lid and was going to walk back with the containers, when the back door of the restaurant opened. He ducked behind the dumpster and then noticed something shiny on the cold snowy ground. After the restaurant door closed, Horatio stooped down to pick up the shiny object. He noticed that it was a brand new shiny penny. A worn smile came to Horatio's face. " This must be my lucky day". He put the shiny penny into a pocket of his threadbare pants, picked up the styrofoam containers and then started walking back toward the tent colony.



Everyone take care. Love Ric