Jack's Coin

Jack and his sister Mary lived with their mother, Lillian, in a small cottage on the outskirts of a small coastal town in England. Their father had died during the second world war, so it was up to their mother to take care of the two children.

“YAY! It’s the last day of school,” shouted Jack as he ran down the hill. “Hurry up Mary! Mum said we can go play in the old lighthouse grounds today.”

“Slow down, Jack. I’m not as fast as you, and anyway, my school bag is heavy.”

“Don’t be a sissy. I think there’s a path running down the side of the hill and I want to go and look.”

“I hope it’s inside the lighthouse grounds,” grumbled Mary.

The cliffs beyond the fence-line were unstable, so their mother had forbidden them from playing beyond the boundary.

As Jack played with his toy car up and down the pathway, Mary sat quietly combing her doll’s hair. The afternoon sun sank quickly over the horizon across the sea.

“We should think about going home,” said Mary.

“No way,” shouted Jack. “I’m having too much fun right now.”

“Jack, don’t be silly. It’s going to get dark soon. You know how Mum doesn’t like it when we get home after dusk.”

“Oh, all right, moany. I’ll just zoom one more time down to the end of the fence, then we can go home.”

Jack ran to the end of the boundary line, then stopped dead in his tracks.

“What’s that shiny thing over there?”

“I don’t know,” said Mary as she walked up to him.

“Do you think we should go and take a look?”

“NO!” yelled Mary.