"I wish I was rich!" yells Paul as he tosses the coin in the air. It clangs against the ground, landing on heads.
"Huh, I guess it's not to be," he sighed, going back to pick up the coin from the floor. "This coin might as well be my last, I guess. How is it that a man named Rich can be as poor as I am?"
Since Rich had rolled tails the first time, he was doomed not to notice the coins effects, and therefore had no idea that his original name was actually Paul. In another town, his birth certificate was being erased with the words PAUL HADRIAN SCOTT and being rewritten as RICHARD TRACY SCOTT. The memories of everyone who new him was now changing to get used to calling this man "Richard" or simply "Rich" for short. Even some of his old high school buddies ended up with nearly forgotten teenage memories of having a classmate whom they often called "Dick" as a half-dirty in-joke. Even the driver's license in his pocket (being useless since he didn't have a car) was being magically updated with the new name.
"I guess I'm just gonna have to wander around town for a while until I decide what to do," he thought to himself.
"Hey, Rich! What's up? Everything going all right for you lately? I haven't seen you in ages!" he heard a female voice approaching him along the street. It was Layna Miller, a local woman he'd had a crush on for months. He was sure he'd never have a chance with her, she was just too beautiful and successful. Even so, he didn't want to tell her just how bad his situation was.
"Oh, yeah, it's great! Lovin' my apartment, but I've decided it's time to move on. Lookin' for a new place, I guess, gettin' ready to move into somethin' bigger and nicer as always," he claimed misleadingly.
"Well, good luck finding a new place. I'd stay and chat, but I have an appointment with Dr. Mezzurani in 30 minutes," she said.
"Yeah, sure, well I hope you get a good report. I'll just look forward to seeing your pretty--um, to seeing you around town again sometime," he said awkwardly. She smiled and waved and hurried down the street.
Rich looked back to his penny again. "I don't know why you're so relaxing to flip around, but I need something to calm my nerves," he mused, not realizing that he was being hypnotically entranced by the coin's magic to flip it whenever he felt like wishing something aloud. His next wish was blurted out thoughtlessly as easily as he might say anything else to himself in his dejected state, and he would be oblivious to whatever new change might be made to reality because of it.