Shiny Dimes and Wild Rides with Patricia and Glenn Chamberlin (2000)

Pages: 168, Printer: Paper & Graphics, Editing: Barbara Chamberlin

When Dr. Glenn and Patricia Chamberlin were nearing their 50th wedding anniversary, their daughter, Barbara Chamberlin Daugherty, of Rochester, commissioned me to write this book as a gift for them. The Chamberlins thanked me for making their 50th anniversary so perfect and for giving literary voice to their many memories.

Excerpt

When I was growing up one of my duties was to help dust our house. My brother had a job at a little general store in town where on Saturday nights he would sweep the store and get ten cents each time he did it. He would line his dimes up across his dresser. One day I was in there dusting and I saw that he had about eight or nine dimes lined up. I thought, I don't get paid for what I do; he'll never miss one of these. So I took one of his dimes. Well, later on, somehow or other, he found out that I had that dime. He reported to my parents that he was missing a dime. Unbeknownst to me he had shined each dime with an eraser and had memorized the dates on them. He said his 1928 dime was missing, and sure enough I had the 1928 dime. So my dad wanted to know right away, Where did you get that dime? I took him out in the back yard and we wandered around. I found an old tree and said, I found it in the crotch of this old tree. He knew it wouldn’t be a nice shiny dime if I had found it in the crotch of that tree. That taught me a lesson. I had to give back that dime.