The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

the twenty dollar bill,” Harry stated and Max stood up.
“Why should your picture go on the twenty, we should hold a lottery to see whose picture goes on what bill and what coin, that’s only fair,” he stated and Harry nodded.
“Maybe for all of the rest of the money, but if it’s my bank and my millions funding the economy, the least you can do is put my face on the twenty. After all, I did save everyone’s life by finding the planet and leading us here, and it is a fantastic planet I found, or don’t you remember the thirty thousand or so years you’re all going to live?” he teased them and Jake burst into laughter. Kate stood up.
“I think Henry’s right, he’s putting up the money, he’s face should be on the twenty,” she said and everyone laughed. Jan stood up.
“I agree with Kate and Harry, his face should be on the twenty, he saved all of us, we should honor him by putting his face on one of the bills,” she said and everyone but a few agreed. So they voted and Harry got his twenty.
“Why did you want your face on the twenty, babe?” Jake asked when they got home and put the kids to bed. Harry giggled.
“When we finally get the money printed and all the ATM’s out, what do you think everyone is going to run out to do?” he teased and Jake laughed.
“They’ll run out and take money out of the ATM and when they do, they’ll get five Harry’s,” he said and laughed. He reached out and pulled him into his arms.
“Do we even have twenty million, babe?” he asked. Harry nodded.
“And I’m using my money and not yours for this foolish crap,” he told him. Jake grinned.
“It’s all our money, silly, and you can use any of it you want, but an economy, who the hell are they fooling, we’re going to print twenty million dollars of money for a hundred and ninety-eight people, that’s insane, babe,” he declared and Harry giggled.
“Why do you think I said twenty instead of five or ten, I wanted to see how stupid they were and they’re really, really stupid, honey,” he said and they both laughed.
The next day they started work on the bank and the safe was a marvel to see. They had to use the Elizabeth to lift it up and put it into place and only Harry had the combination. David wanted to be the bank manager but he didn’t have any experience. Pete Campbell had been a bank manager and so Harry made him the bank manager and made David a teller which made the man happy.
Next they built the depository and the security on that building was very impressive. Even DJ and Steve who considered themselves hackers couldn’t figure out how to get into this system. Harry could but he didn’t tell them how, he wanted his twenty million to stay put.
Next they held a lottery for the pictures on the money and everyone’s name was written on ping pong balls in the machine that printed names on golf balls and placed in the bingo game and spun around. Harry supervised since he was already chosen and his mom Kate was voted as the picker since everyone figured she’d be impartial. She turned on the machine and the balls spun around and when she flipped the switch and ball rolled into the slot. Everyone gasped and held their breaths as she opened the slot and picked up the ball. She turned to Harry.
“What are we selecting now, Henry?” Kate asked. Harry grinned.
“The face for the one dollar bill, Mom,” he told her. She nodded and looked at the ball.
“The picture on the one dollar bill will be of Max Tyler,” she announced and Max stood up and waved while everyone cheered for him. Harry grinned and typed it into his computer. He could see people writing it down.
“Now we’re picking for the five dollar bill,” he called out and Kate flipped the switch and a second ball fell out and she pulled it out and looked at it.
“The picture on the five dollar bill will be of Carl Warner,” she announced and surprised as hell, Carl stood up and everyone cheered. His wife kissed him. Harry grinned.
“Now we’re picking the ten dollar bill,” he called out and his mother flipped the switch and another ball fell out and she picked it up and read it.
“The picture on the ten dollar bill will be Kathleen Tyler,” she announced and with a squeal Kathleen jumped up and waved her hand and everyone cheered.
“Now we’re picking the fifty dollar bill,” Harry called out and the switch was flipped and another ball fell out.
“The picture on the fifty dollar bill will be Lily Thomas,” Kate announced and Lily jumped to her feet and everyone cheered and clapped for her.
Then they called for the hundred dollar bill and Charlie Baxter was called and his father looked pissed that it was his son and not him. Everyone cheered for Charlie though so he had to also.
Next they called for the five hundred dollar bill, the largest one they were going to issue and they name Kate called out was Sarek who stood and they all cheered for him except for few who thought an alien shouldn’t be on their money.
Next they called for the penny and Kate flipped the switch and the ball fell out and she read the name and laughed.
“And the face on the penny shall be mine,” she announced and showed them all her name on the ball and they all laughed and cheered for her. Harry giggled and typed in her name.
“Now we’re picking for the nickel,” Harry called out and the switch was flipped and the ball dropped out and Kate picked it up.
“And the face on the nickel shall be Dr. George,” she announced and everyone cheered for Dr. George.
“Now we’re picking the dime,” Harry said and Kate picked up the ball and looked at it.
“The face on the dime shall be Gloria Marshall,” she announced and Gloria squealed and jumped up. David jumped up and they kissed.
“Now we’re picking the quarter,” Harry called out and Kate flipped the switch and picked up the ball.
“The face on the quarter shall be Jake Talbert,” she read and Jake grinned and kissed his kids. Harry grinned and typed in his name and blew his honey a kiss. David stood up.
“That’s cheating, they both can’t be picked,” he yelled. Kate frowned at him.
“I assure you, I am not cheating, but if I pick your ball, Mr. Marshall, I’m putting it back because I don’t like you,” she said and everyone laughed. He pouted and sat down.
“Next we’re picking the half dollar,” Harry called out and the switch was flipped and Kate picked up the ball and laughed.
“The face on the half dollar shall be the very stupid and imbecile David Marshall,” she announced and everyone broke into laughter as he stood up and giggled.
“And, of course, the face on the commemorative gold dollar with the Roosevelt on one side and the planet Eden on the other will be my son Henry, our savior,” Kate informed them solemnly and they all stood up and cheered and clapped. Harry stood up and took a bow and then informed everyone who had been picked that Doug would be taking the official photographs in his studio and a committee would pick out what was going on back of the bill. The meeting then ended.
“You do know that the twenty dollar bill and the quarter are the two most popular pieces of currency,” Harry informed his husband on the drive home. Jake grinned and kissed his babe’s hand.
“You didn’t rig it so I’d get picked for something did you, babe?” he asked and Harry giggled.
“You can’t rig ping pong balls, Jake, that’s silly,” he declared and Jake laughed.
“You’re right, I’m sorry I asked,” he apologized. Harry giggled again. Jake grinned. “What did you do, I know you did something,” he said. Harry sighed.
“If you must know, I sprayed your ball with clear acrylic enamel to make it heavier than all the other balls, that way it would fall to the bottom when the switch was flipped,” he confessed. Jake laughed.
“You little cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater, if I had ended up on the penny, I would have still loved you,” he teased and Harry laughed.
Once the official pictures were taken they looked around for places to put on the back of the bills. Harry flew Doug out to Mykonos to take a picture of the six waterfalls for the back of the twenty and on the front of all the bills they put the double symbol of the Roosevelt flying over the planet Eden and they used the words ‘In God We Trust’ like the original dollars had said and had always said since money was made back on Earth.
On the back of the one dollar bill they put a picture of the Community Center; on the five they put an oasis from Savannah and on the ten, volcanoes from Volcano Island. On the fifty went the glorious mountains of Sherwood and on the hundred went a view of the Northern Pole with its glorious lights. On the five hundred Sarek produced a picture of Eden’s system showing it as the fourth planet from the sun, which everyone loved.
On the penny Kate insisted on putting Barb’s face on the reverse side making it a double-faced coin and everyone laughed so much about it that they decided to go along. For the nickel Dr. George wanted Shelley so another double-faced coin was made, after all, they couldn’t do it for one and not the other. For the dime Gloria picked a picture of her, David and their dog Poopsie and everyone laughed and put it on. For the quarter Jake and Harry picked an American Bald Eagle holding arrows in one claw and an olive branch in the other with the words E. Pluribus Unum which meant ‘out of one many’. Everyone wanted to know what they signified and Harry explained this was on the quarter in the Twentieth Century on Earth and so they wanted it on their quarter.
“That’s very impressive, Harry, I didn’t know that,” Carl remarked. Kate sighed.
“Is there anything you don’t know, Henry?” she asked a little sarcastically. Harry sighed.
“There are a lot of things I don’t know, Mom, we just did a little research, anyone could have found that out and you have to admit, it makes a pretty quarter,” he said and everyone nodded. It was the prettiest coin.
For the fifty cent piece David didn’t know what to pick since his wife already picked the picture he wanted so he picked a picture of the bank where the money came from and he was going to work. That made the man giggle and annoyed the rest of the people in the room except for his wife who thought his giggle cute.
And the design on the gold dollar was Harry at fourteen and twenty-one on the front and the Roosevelt and Eden on the back, it was very special and he liked the way the computer did it. Everyone gushed over it when they showed it at the town meeting when they showed all the computer facsimiles of