The Wishing Well
by Donnie (Tobie) Denome
Pennies collect like pebbles in a pond. The sign says “The composition of coins is dangerous to fish in this fountain. Please do not throw money in.” Still, pennies collect.
She wants her dog to obey her just once.
He just doesn’t care anymore and wants it to go away.
He hopes that years of studying will finally pay off.
She’s going to propose and wants it to go well.
The man from the Parks and Recreation department passes by the pond and scoops out over six dollars of change, most of it pennies. Sighing, he dumps it in a plastic bag and puts it in his little cart. Sunlight floats down from between the trees and dances off the water. The tile at the bottom of the fountain and around the sides gleams red, gold, green, white, blue, purple, silver and gold.
He wonders how long he can get away without telling Taylor about his diagnosis and wishes that he will wake up from this nightmare.
She wants the man living in the room above her to come clean about what he’s been doing that stinks so much.
They’re there on behalf of everyone in the support group — five cancer diagnoses, three HIV/AIDS, one genetic condition, two with failing kidneys, one with Addison’s that’s not really fatal but they go anyway because the cookies and company are good.
He heard their wish and immediately decides it’s more important than his.
Xe doesn’t know what xyr wish is but xyr friends have been telling xem that some pronounceable, gender-neutral pronouns would be nice.
This time it’s a woman frowning at the amount of coins. She thinks about proposing some sort of net to the council at the next meeting but that does seem like overkill. No fish have died yet. She tests the water, writes down the results, and walks away.
She wishes that she knew how to tell him.
He wishes that he knew how to tell her.
He really can’t complain but is pretty weirded out at why Kelsey has been acting so weird without an explanation. And what was that visit to the doctor’s office?
She wishes she knew how to stop but she doesn’t.
The couple arrives, holding hands, just as the manager of the entire system strides over. “I hope you weren’t planning on throwing coins in,” she says with a disapproving glare on her face. “You might endanger the fish. They’re not very hardy, you know.”
“Yes ma’am,” the woman answers.
The man sits down at the bench and wishes she’d stop being so self-conscious of her neck.
She wonders how to explain the affair — well, it wasn’t really — that started over a dirty joke in German and a plate of sausage.
They wait until the woman is gone to throw their coins in.
The businessman wishes that he’d get the position so he can stop making excuses to fly out here and see the musician.
The Musician — with a capital M — hopes that the concert will go well. And also that his comrades will stop singing that song, even if they did all write and perform it. And also that his friend’s baby son is doing well. But mostly that their concert will go smoothly.
The musician — lower case — hopes that his ex’s newest love is getting the help he needs.
Laughing, the three children streak by in their school clothes while their parents stand by the fountain and talk about grown-up things. One of them — who is not a parent, only the girlfriend of one of them — stalks away and flips coins into the fountain like flipping mints into a great maw. She wishes her students would behave for once so they could just finish Julius Caesar already.
The college students wish for, in no particular order: a pink feather boa, new batting gloves, markers, a cure for schizophrenia, and more money.
She wishes for him to notice her.
He wishes that his brother would call him.
He wishes that the lady in charge of payroll would stop insisting that his little sister is his little brother because she started being his little sister almost twenty years ago.
She fingers her coat hanger-print scarf and wishes things had turned out differently.
A duck lands in the fountain and dives down to retrieve the pieces of bread the man with the crutch is throwing in. “Ducky, ducky, ducky,” the man laughs as he chucks another piece of bread into the fountain. “Ducky, bring me a pretty penny. Bring me a pretty penny so I can make a wish for Aspen.”
The duck, as if by some divine force, swoops down and picks up a penny. It leaves it, along with a white splotch, next to him. “I wish,” the man laughs, “that Aspen’s tour goes well and that Mack gets married to Crissy!”
He tells him and they come back to the fountain. Taylor wishes he has it, also, so he won’t be left without Kelsey for too long. Kelsey wishes Taylor is clean.
She calls him and breaks the news. Then she goes back and wishes that he’ll find it in his heart to forgive her.
He comes back to the fountain even though she’s in the hospital and wishes she’ll get better. Even if Addison’s is treatable and even if she might have been cheating on him.
She only wanted him to say yes but he didn’t and now she has no idea what to think.
He wants her to understand he’s changed but she won’t. Still, he kissed his ex — who she’s currently dating — the other day and it went well.
Nothing matters anymore that they’re dead. Mack says he’ll take care of her and Chris couldn’t agree more but she just wants Leon and Abel back. She tosses the coin in and wonders if they’re in Heaven now.
He’s environmentally-conscious and wants to protect the koi so he leaves a coin by the fountain.
Kelsey’s sick today — nothing too major but you can never be too careful — so Taylor comes alone and wishes for a cure.
She’s there because her little brother’s dead and now her research can’t go fast enough. She wants him back but also that grant.
She wishes that none of it had ever happened.
He moans from the open wound in his side and tosses the nickel in his pocket in, hoping they’ll catch the man that stabbed him.
The police detective who’s called to investigate tosses a penny in and wonders if this one will have a simple explanation. Of course it does — this isn’t TV. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They narrow it down to three suspects but until the DNA comes through (which could take months) they’re stuck in a rut.
She wishes that she had kept the child.
Looking at the fountain over videochat while stationed in Afghanistan, he wishes he had a child.
She wishes he would come home.
He wishes Chris would stop calling him Michael.
He wishes Mack would stop calling him Stephanie.
The man pulls up in a fancy car and gets out. He helps a much older woman out and they walk to the fountain. “It’s beautiful,” she whispers. “Don’t you wish they were here?”
Yes, yes, he does. No matter who they are, the two of them have lost too many friends, loves, colleagues. “Of course I do.”
by Donnie (Tobie) Denome
Pennies collect like pebbles in a pond. The sign says “The composition of coins is dangerous to fish in this fountain. Please do not throw money in.” Still, pennies collect.
She wants her dog to obey her just once.
He just doesn’t care anymore and wants it to go away.
He hopes that years of studying will finally pay off.
She’s going to propose and wants it to go well.
The man from the Parks and Recreation department passes by the pond and scoops out over six dollars of change, most of it pennies. Sighing, he dumps it in a plastic bag and puts it in his little cart. Sunlight floats down from between the trees and dances off the water. The tile at the bottom of the fountain and around the sides gleams red, gold, green, white, blue, purple, silver and gold.
He wonders how long he can get away without telling Taylor about his diagnosis and wishes that he will wake up from this nightmare.
She wants the man living in the room above her to come clean about what he’s been doing that stinks so much.
They’re there on behalf of everyone in the support group — five cancer diagnoses, three HIV/AIDS, one genetic condition, two with failing kidneys, one with Addison’s that’s not really fatal but they go anyway because the cookies and company are good.
He heard their wish and immediately decides it’s more important than his.
Xe doesn’t know what xyr wish is but xyr friends have been telling xem that some pronounceable, gender-neutral pronouns would be nice.
This time it’s a woman frowning at the amount of coins. She thinks about proposing some sort of net to the council at the next meeting but that does seem like overkill. No fish have died yet. She tests the water, writes down the results, and walks away.
She wishes that she knew how to tell him.
He wishes that he knew how to tell her.
He really can’t complain but is pretty weirded out at why Kelsey has been acting so weird without an explanation. And what was that visit to the doctor’s office?
She wishes she knew how to stop but she doesn’t.
The couple arrives, holding hands, just as the manager of the entire system strides over. “I hope you weren’t planning on throwing coins in,” she says with a disapproving glare on her face. “You might endanger the fish. They’re not very hardy, you know.”
“Yes ma’am,” the woman answers.
The man sits down at the bench and wishes she’d stop being so self-conscious of her neck.
She wonders how to explain the affair — well, it wasn’t really — that started over a dirty joke in German and a plate of sausage.
They wait until the woman is gone to throw their coins in.
The businessman wishes that he’d get the position so he can stop making excuses to fly out here and see the musician.
The Musician — with a capital M — hopes that the concert will go well. And also that his comrades will stop singing that song, even if they did all write and perform it. And also that his friend’s baby son is doing well. But mostly that their concert will go smoothly.
The musician — lower case — hopes that his ex’s newest love is getting the help he needs.
Laughing, the three children streak by in their school clothes while their parents stand by the fountain and talk about grown-up things. One of them — who is not a parent, only the girlfriend of one of them — stalks away and flips coins into the fountain like flipping mints into a great maw. She wishes her students would behave for once so they could just finish Julius Caesar already.
The college students wish for, in no particular order: a pink feather boa, new batting gloves, markers, a cure for schizophrenia, and more money.
She wishes for him to notice her.
He wishes that his brother would call him.
He wishes that the lady in charge of payroll would stop insisting that his little sister is his little brother because she started being his little sister almost twenty years ago.
She fingers her coat hanger-print scarf and wishes things had turned out differently.
A duck lands in the fountain and dives down to retrieve the pieces of bread the man with the crutch is throwing in. “Ducky, ducky, ducky,” the man laughs as he chucks another piece of bread into the fountain. “Ducky, bring me a pretty penny. Bring me a pretty penny so I can make a wish for Aspen.”
The duck, as if by some divine force, swoops down and picks up a penny. It leaves it, along with a white splotch, next to him. “I wish,” the man laughs, “that Aspen’s tour goes well and that Mack gets married to Crissy!”
He tells him and they come back to the fountain. Taylor wishes he has it, also, so he won’t be left without Kelsey for too long. Kelsey wishes Taylor is clean.
She calls him and breaks the news. Then she goes back and wishes that he’ll find it in his heart to forgive her.
He comes back to the fountain even though she’s in the hospital and wishes she’ll get better. Even if Addison’s is treatable and even if she might have been cheating on him.
She only wanted him to say yes but he didn’t and now she has no idea what to think.
He wants her to understand he’s changed but she won’t. Still, he kissed his ex — who she’s currently dating — the other day and it went well.
Nothing matters anymore that they’re dead. Mack says he’ll take care of her and Chris couldn’t agree more but she just wants Leon and Abel back. She tosses the coin in and wonders if they’re in Heaven now.
He’s environmentally-conscious and wants to protect the koi so he leaves a coin by the fountain.
Kelsey’s sick today — nothing too major but you can never be too careful — so Taylor comes alone and wishes for a cure.
She’s there because her little brother’s dead and now her research can’t go fast enough. She wants him back but also that grant.
She wishes that none of it had ever happened.
He moans from the open wound in his side and tosses the nickel in his pocket in, hoping they’ll catch the man that stabbed him.
The police detective who’s called to investigate tosses a penny in and wonders if this one will have a simple explanation. Of course it does — this isn’t TV. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They narrow it down to three suspects but until the DNA comes through (which could take months) they’re stuck in a rut.
She wishes that she had kept the child.
Looking at the fountain over videochat while stationed in Afghanistan, he wishes he had a child.
She wishes he would come home.
He wishes Chris would stop calling him Michael.
He wishes Mack would stop calling him Stephanie.
The man pulls up in a fancy car and gets out. He helps a much older woman out and they walk to the fountain. “It’s beautiful,” she whispers. “Don’t you wish they were here?”
Yes, yes, he does. No matter who they are, the two of them have lost too many friends, loves, colleagues. “Of course I do.”