Two nickles and three pennies

The plane hopped down the runway and finally came to a stop in Nuevo Laredo,  and I knew that soon I would be back in the States after a week on the sunny beaches of Cancun, Mexico. It had been a glorious vacation, a week on my own,  freedom at 24. I was full of confidence. I had done it, all by myself, but I was ready to see  a face I knew. My boyfriend,  who had dropped me off,  was to pick me up. As I came off the plane,  I searched for his round baby face with those big brown eyes , but he wasn't waiting at the gate. Disappointed,  I headed to baggage claim, grabbed my luggage from the carousel, hefted one bag  on to my  shoulder, and with the other in my hand,  I started towards  the entrance.  I constantly  scanned the crowd, looking for that familiar face, but to no avail. I found a seat near the front doors  to wait. He would be here soon.   I waited.  I was beginning to get annoyed, maybe a little angry. Where was he?  The realization that I would be responsible for getting myself  across the bridge was beginning to sink in. No problem. After all I had just been  on my own in a foreign country and had managed to have a great time.  An action  plan was needed.  It cost just under a dollar to get across the bridge  and  maybe I should get a taxi to the bridge...I mentally calculated how much money I would  need. I unsnapped my purse,   found  my wallet, opened  it, and ...no dollar bills. This discovery led to a semi frantic search.  No money hidden in any of the outside  pockets or zippered inside pouches of my purse. No money in my jean pockets. A search through my bags  and the pockets of my dirty clothes garnered the same results-  no money.  But wait,  I remember the zippered side pocket of my wallet where I sometimes put my coins! Surely there's enough there to get across the bridge!  Forget the taxi; I could walk.  I unzipped the wallet and dumped the contents into the palm of my hand:  two nickels and three pennies. I could not get across the bridge.  Panic rippled  its way through my brain, and my heart beat a little faster. I scanned the crowd again, and this time I saw that cute baby face and those brown eyes peeking at me over the top of a half wall nearby.  Only right at that moment I didn't think his face was so cute. I was thinking he would look better with a busted lip. I can laugh now at his practical joke, but the laughter was not immediate then.