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Gustavo Mercado, a newly arrived immigrant from Mexico, was so happy to have a decent job at a beautiful lake in America that he offered a gift to his employer, a 50 peso Libertad gold coin.
It was delivered with a handwritten note, translated into English by a fellow worker: "With heartfelt gratitude, I offer this coin to bring good fortune for the person who passes it along to someone more powerful than himself."
The North Shore contractor smiled, and at five o'clock, thanked his grateful worker with a cold six-pack of Negra Modelo. Then he tucked the gold coin and the handwritten note into an envelope, and mailed it to his father, postmaster of Provo, Utah.
The postmaster showed the gold coin and handwritten note around Provo, then, with no little fanfare, mailed them off to the postmaster general in Washington D.C.
The postmaster general had a good time showing them off in Washington, where they gained interest and notoriety.
Then he packaged them up and sent them off to a congressman from Maine, who made some political hay before forwarding them along to a senator from Massachusetts.
Thusly, the gold coin and handwritten note wove their way across America, stimulating meaningful dialogue and discourse about immigration as they went.
The senator from Massachusetts thought long and hard about keeping the coin, as he found himself hard-pressed to think of anybody more powerful than himself, but opting for the good fortune, forwarded the gold coin and handwritten note to a justice of the United States Supreme Court.
At the High Court, they were greeted with much conversation and communication about immigration. Passing the curiosities from hand to hand, the justices commented on how unique it was for a gift to make its way from a manual laborer at the Lake of the Sky to the Supreme Court of the land, and they were moved by the sentiment expressed therein.
The Supreme Court justice who received the 50 peso Libertad gold coin and handwritten note considered entering them into his personal collection, though not willing to risk losing the good fortune, he forwarded them along to the president of the United States.
When the president received the rare gold coin, and now even rarer handwritten note, he was duly impressed. A message spoken in Spanish by an illiterate immigrant, then translated into English by a fellow worker, had weaved its way from Lake Tahoe to the highest office of the land.
Just when the president was about to make public that 50 peso Libertad gold coin and handwritten note, and unite Congress to pass a meaningful immigration bill, he tucked the handwritten note into his pocket, winked, and sent the 50 peso Libertad gold coin to the vice president for luck!
Gustavo Mercado, meanwhile, unaware of the tear he uncovered in the fabric of the American tapestry, continues to put in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
Each week he faithfully sends money to his family in Mexico and seems satisfied with his good fortune, fleeting as it may be.
And the beat goes on...
McAvoy Layne lives in Incline Village and visits schools throughout Nevada as the ghost of Mark Twain.
It was delivered with a handwritten note, translated into English by a fellow worker: "With heartfelt gratitude, I offer this coin to bring good fortune for the person who passes it along to someone more powerful than himself."
The North Shore contractor smiled, and at five o'clock, thanked his grateful worker with a cold six-pack of Negra Modelo. Then he tucked the gold coin and the handwritten note into an envelope, and mailed it to his father, postmaster of Provo, Utah.
The postmaster showed the gold coin and handwritten note around Provo, then, with no little fanfare, mailed them off to the postmaster general in Washington D.C.
The postmaster general had a good time showing them off in Washington, where they gained interest and notoriety.
Then he packaged them up and sent them off to a congressman from Maine, who made some political hay before forwarding them along to a senator from Massachusetts.
Thusly, the gold coin and handwritten note wove their way across America, stimulating meaningful dialogue and discourse about immigration as they went.
The senator from Massachusetts thought long and hard about keeping the coin, as he found himself hard-pressed to think of anybody more powerful than himself, but opting for the good fortune, forwarded the gold coin and handwritten note to a justice of the United States Supreme Court.
At the High Court, they were greeted with much conversation and communication about immigration. Passing the curiosities from hand to hand, the justices commented on how unique it was for a gift to make its way from a manual laborer at the Lake of the Sky to the Supreme Court of the land, and they were moved by the sentiment expressed therein.
The Supreme Court justice who received the 50 peso Libertad gold coin and handwritten note considered entering them into his personal collection, though not willing to risk losing the good fortune, he forwarded them along to the president of the United States.
When the president received the rare gold coin, and now even rarer handwritten note, he was duly impressed. A message spoken in Spanish by an illiterate immigrant, then translated into English by a fellow worker, had weaved its way from Lake Tahoe to the highest office of the land.
Just when the president was about to make public that 50 peso Libertad gold coin and handwritten note, and unite Congress to pass a meaningful immigration bill, he tucked the handwritten note into his pocket, winked, and sent the 50 peso Libertad gold coin to the vice president for luck!
Gustavo Mercado, meanwhile, unaware of the tear he uncovered in the fabric of the American tapestry, continues to put in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
Each week he faithfully sends money to his family in Mexico and seems satisfied with his good fortune, fleeting as it may be.
And the beat goes on...
McAvoy Layne lives in Incline Village and visits schools throughout Nevada as the ghost of Mark Twain.
