Threepence

Looks brand new.

Threepence.

Looks really cool.

And she goes, oh, I'm the first one in the family to get a metal detector.

Now, the normal average person kid would get a six-penny ice cream from Mr. Whippy.

And you could have a Threepenny ice cream, which is really sour ice cream.

And either our dad would never give us any money for ice cream at all, or sometimes he would give us the Threepenny bits, where they're very small.

So my big thing was to have a six-penny ice cream.

And if I could have it with a chocolate thing that you stuck inside of, it was like heaven.

Sometimes he became sarcastic and would send his query swirling upwards.

"Who stole the threepenny bit?" he roared.

He addressed the surrounding black space.

"Who stole the last threepenny bit of a poor man?" Again and again, his voice pealed upwards.

The pains of his habitation lost all their sting for him.

His mind had nourishment, and the heat within him vanquished the fumes without.

But that did not ease the trouble.

The contagion spread until ten million billions of voices were chanting in unison, and uncountable multitudes were listening between their pangs.