Not that Garfield . . . the other one!

Some conversations are too silly to be believed, except when they happen to be true. I had the following exchange with my highly intelligent, well-educated wife Liz as we drove home from lunch last Sunday. It began when I mentioned that I had spotted an odd-looking coin on the sidewalk while walking one of our dogs.

“I found a Garfield dollar coin on Cony Street when I took Quinn out at 5:30 this morning.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen one before. I almost didn't pick it up. It looked like play money. I wasn’t sure it was real, but I looked it up online and found out that it is.”

“Really? A Garfield coin? Wow! I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

“Me neither. I tried to use it at the store when I bought the newspapers, but the clerk wasn’t sure it was real, so I didn’t push it. I told her I’d take it to the credit union and exchange it.”

“I can imagine. A Garfield coin! Where is it? I want to see it. You should save it.”

“I put it in that little bank where I store quarters. Why should I save it? It’s only worth a dollar.”

“Yes, but a Garfield coin?”

“Apparently, there’s a whole series of presidential coins and . . . .”

“What?”

“Presidential coins. That’s why James Garfield has his own coin.”

“James Garfield? Oh, okay! Now it makes sense! I couldn’t figure out why the government would put Garfield the cat on a coin.”