Andrew stopped short and just looked down at it. There it was, plain as day, staring up at him like a profound treasure.

A quarter.

The lifespan of a quarter on a sidewalk was as long as it took the next person to walk by after it had been dropped. In sharp contrast, the lifespan of a penny on the sidewalk was about 2 weeks.

As he bent over to pick it up, thoughts began swirling in his head. Where had it been? Who had used it? What kind of purchase had it been involved in?

Andrew imagined a 8 year old boy stopping to pull his latest treasure, a WWE Shawn Michaels wrestling action figure, from it’s box as his grandfather fumbled for his keys to the car. The tink of the quarter hitting the pavement getting lost in the jingling of the keys. The boy looking up at his grandfather with a smile as bright as the afternoon sun as he climbed into the car.

[Challenge: write a ficlet that contains a single quarter being used in some way]