Falling Money Trick

Dad was a very smart and cleaver man. He had many skills and wore many hats. From building the patio, and the brick fire place inside the patio in South Gate where I first come to start to know the man that was my father. Equally good at woodworking and mechanical skills. He had called me over to where he was and said he wanted to show me something. As a young boy I was curious as to what that was. He said he had a challenge for me and I said ok what is it. He was holding a five-dollar bill and told me I could have it if I could snatch it as it fell. Of course, there were rules to this challenge and he went on to instruct me how this all worked.

He said the he would hold the five dollar note in a vertical position. The bottom of the bill would be aligned with my fingers. I had to hold my finger and my thumb wide open until he had dropped the five-dollar bill. He added that I could not move my arm at all, only my fingers. I said ok is that all or is there more and he replied no that was all to the rules. I thought ok this will be easy, but dad had this look on his face like he knew something that I didn’t. I repeated the rules to make sure I wasn’t missing something. He said no you got it and asked if I was ready. I said yes but how many tries do I get, and he replied only one. I thought ok I have to be fast to make this work. I prepared myself for the drop but not knowing when it was going to happen.

Finally, he let it go and it started to drop towards the floor. I reacted very quickly and was successful in catching the money. The look on his face was utter disbelief as he never thought I would be able to get it so fast. I’m sure he anticipated it hitting the floor and seeing my disappointed face after the fact. It was his face that was surprised and my face was gleaming with joy. I quickly asked him if we could do it with a twenty-dollar bill, he immediately said no and left the room. I ‘m guessing that he and some fellow coworkers had done this at work and nobody was successful in catching the falling money. A bunch of older men trying to do this and not having very fast reflexes to do it. He never counted on my reflexes being so quick.

This is a found memory of my dad and I wish I could tell him how much he meant to me. It’s only as we get older and have a bit of perspective that grants us the wisdom to see and understand what our loved ones mean to us. He lives on in my heart and is a part of everything I build as he was the one that got me started at five years old hammering and sawing wood. I can tell you it was a pitiful sight and I killed many nails trying to get them driven down into the wood scraps he gave me to work with.

Thank you, dad, for all you did,

Michael