Long Pennies

Once several years ago I had this dream, as is recorded in my Book of Dreams:

Last night, I had a dream, and there were lots of parts to it. And in one scene, I discovered that back in the 1940's they used to make some pennies which were real long and stretched out, so that there was room on the back to add, in fine print, an endorsement for your representative in Congress. And I saw that this long penny was endorsing the fine, faithful civic sense of one "Irene Knizz Divell."

Looking back in waking hours, these long pennies remind me of the time when I was out on the Pacific Coast in Washington State, the "Peninsula" down in southwestern Washington, and in one of those little towns along the beach I found this restaurant with wonderful home cooking, giant juicy hamburgers with a ton of fries, and home-cooked green beans just right, and they had on display inside a glass case a curiosity, a small mummified human head joined seamlessly onto a small alligator's body, so flawless you couldn't even see how it was done, it looked just like real, and you could put coins in a machine, and then put a penny in the slot, and it would take your penny and roll it out long and return it to you, a long penny with a picture of the Alligator Man stamped on the back.