Wishing Well

Yesterday I tossed a pair of pants over the shower curtain bar as I changed into jammies, and a few coins clattered into the empty tub from the pockets. Like a wishing well, I thought, like throwing money into water for a wish. Where did that come from? Are we bribing naiads for favors?

This summer I went to Niagara Falls on the American side where you can get right close to the rapids in places where the roiling water eddies and slows, mere feet from the catastrophic edge. Oh, the embankment is well worn by daredevils who dip their toes in, myself, I wouldn't trust the current or the guy behind me who might push. It is a juxtaposition of calm waters and suicide. Ducks paddle amid small hummocks of sod and reeds in the little cove; not twenty feet away the water smashes against the bedrock of the cataclysm in frothing madness, rumbling the ground beneath your solitary human feet.

Really, to experience the Falls, walk on the American side on Goat Island. Incredibly terrific and there are terraces built to view the water's rush. It can be hypnotizing, but even more so is the amount of money thrown into the fray; it's found back by the ducks, in a humble dry spot near the edge of the WPA concrete construction, and in depths of the water reflecting sunlight. More that one person has been skedaddled and arrested from trying to retrieve coins in less than safe areas.

But think of it, before white people began throwing money over, natives tossed in maidens and young boys. No gold in this area, but I bet a pile of clam beads is down in the abyss. After the missionaries and trappers arrived, who threw in the first ducat or whatever the monetary exchange was at the time? Now take it through the seventeen hundreds, eighteen hundreds. What sort of coins are at the bottom or jammed in rocks from those time periods?

Even now, the flying eagle quarters and Mercury head dimes must weigh in at a few thousand, Indian head pennies, silver dollars, Liberty Bell half dollars included. It has to be a treasure trove for the numismatic tribe.

Because I have an aquarium and use spoons to anchor down the melon I feed Cadillac, I have learned that silver is highly antibacterial. Using a silver spoon kills all the bacteria within the tank, evidenced by white cloudiness a day later. Not good for the fish, took me a while to figure it out, stainless steel is no problem, the cleaning cycle continues.

In your water pitcher, if you have one that filters the yck out, is a bit of silver so that green stuff doesn't grow up the sides of the container. My question is, what effect is all the silver and copper coinage having on the bacterial environment of the Lower River? Without good bacteria, the gunk stagnates into an anaerobic sluice of pollution and a potential zone unable to support the traditional species of fish with ample oxygenated water.

Tomorrow I will go out and try to annoy people on street corners so that I don't bore you with this science stuff and have a really good story to tell. I am exhausted from the hurdy-gurdy of waking up at 722 this morning when I have to be at work by 755. Guess what I looked like today. Professional was not it.

So, I am finishing up my cards and whatnot, and sitting with Martian who is a bit subdued today, to my concern. Then to bed to bed to bed and sleep sleep sleep. You have pennies in your pocket, you don't have to throw them in water to make a wish. Toss them onto the ground for someone to find. Leave a quarter on a bus stop bench for a traveler. It's a bit of fun, and will come back to you two times over.

Dream on, loves.