The Third Side of the Coin

The day Finian Relish found the coin, he had been stomping down Old Mucury Road, having just had a spat with his sister Odessa.The sun was high in the sky and scorching on that particular Sunday afternoon, but our main character was a bit what'd you say overdressed. His dark green overalls and chinos trouser stood out and made one wonder if he wasn't boiling up inside. The reason he had dressed for the wrong weather is still something that eludes me.Now, you see, Mr Relish, his father, had sent him to Big Mac's instead of Odessa, who already had that fixed role every Sunday afternoon. But lately, Odessa had been preoccupied with a stupid thing with her teenage friends and had faked menstrual pain so their father had to send him.So, where was I? Oh, yes. He was stomping down the road in his heavy jean combat boots. Perhaps if he hadn't been wearing the frown so intently, or if he hadn't been in a foul mood to start with, he would have been running down t

The first incident that affirmed our main character's opinion about the coin's lucky abilities happened the next day at school.The first half of school had gone okay. He hadn't worn the coin as a pendant, after all. But by the time it was break time, about half of the boys in class J6 were convinced Finian Relish was a descendant of the bravest and most feared military general in the second world war.So, the child was in high spirits as he walked down the school corridor to his locker at break time. He could be seen with a pep in his step and a low whistle in his throat. Then the bullies came. The euphoria suffused from his face faster than a vacuum could have done. It was not that the bullies had been a surprise. No, they came regularly, at most three times a week (Once in a while he was lucky to see neither hide nor hair of them for a whole week). But, alas, he had been so self-absorbed in his recent rise to recognition that the thought of his normal bullies had been erased, fo

When the boy stepped into the school tuck shop, the large room was abuzz and humming like the bingo room after an evening alfresco on July the fourth. Primary school students stood in groups and clusters, discussing what had happened in the primary six hallway.No doubt, the boys and girls who had stood behind to watch the bully fest were feeling good about themselves now. They obviously soaked in the attention of their transfixed peers as each told his own inflated version of what had happened.As he turned away from the crowd to walk towards the show glass of sweetmeats, one of the narrators must have pointed at him, because soon he heard a collective gasp level out the room. And when he turned back, about a hundred wide eyes stared at him in awe.Finian claims to have felt horror at first. Some weird conspiracy theorem had hopped into his still befuddled mind. He had wondered if, maybe the children were going to be enraged at him for being the cause of the downfall of The Bigs's le

When I mentioned earlier that our main character was to get a rude shock on getting home I hadn't been referring to the reappearance of the coin, per se. No, sir.After a hearty game of football with the neighbourhood boys and an extended chat with a classmate with whom he had parted ways just before their cul-de-sac street, young Mr Relish was to get a severe shake-up as he walked up to Number Twelve, Merryway Close.As he crossed the wide road to the other side of the street, he wondered what the small crowd in front of the house was for. It didn't occur to him until he reached Number Nine that the house of the centre of attention was none but theirs-the Relish Residence.His heart picked up a steady bang in his chest as his throat dried of saliva. The boy knew a crowd, no matter how small like that, didn't mean good news.The casual stroll increased to something short of a gallop as the ground was practically a moving blur beneath him. He wondered what could have happened. His cor

Finian Relish didn't really know where he was, but he knew he felt happy about something. Because why else would he be walking through the strange land, hands in his trouser pockets and a whistle in his throat?He also had a vague feeling he was on the quest for something. He had no idea what that was, but he was going to find it anyway. The euphoric feeling that possessed him could be from the ambience of the scape in which he was. The babble of the brooks that meandered atwixt the gigantic luminescent plants certainly had an aura that made you want to jump to the ninth cloud. They also exuded an evocative redolence that could easily give any perfume store a run for their pounds.Coupled with the dusky atmosphere, the place was heaven come true.The sky was hidden behind the large and leafy canopies the big plants formed high overhead. He could only see peeks of speckled dark blue where some leaves touched. It was a bit like an indigo blanket with holes in it.The narrow footpath