A Penny for Your Thoughts: A Short Story - Paperback

A Penny For Your Thoughts is the harrowing and ultimately redemptive story of Mattie Louise McConnehey, a girl born into the dying world of vaudeville and raised backstage by a ragtag troupe of performers. From her first breath delivered prematurely in a New Jersey hospital moments before her mother Mary dies of septicemia Mattie's life is shaped by loss, performance, and survival.

Abandoned by her grief-stricken father, Mattie is reluctantly taken in by her mother's uncle, the towering, hard-drinking tap dancer known as Uncle Paddy. The ladies of the vaudeville troupe collectively raise her, dressing her in costumes instead of clothes, teaching her magic tricks and tap routines, and showing her how to forage for basic needs. By the age of nine, Mattie is already a seasoned performer and a skilled pickpocket, a skill she learned from a female impersonator with loose morals.

The novel follows Mattie through the 1920s and 30s as vaudeville collapses under the weight of silent films and talkies. Uncle Paddy dies, leaving Mattie alone at twelve. She meets Joey Masters, a charming magician and fire-eater, and they fall in love, marry, and become headliners together. But as vaudeville fades, burlesque rises. Mattie's drinking initially a way to cope with stage fright and trauma spirals into full-blown alcoholism. She becomes the top "teaser" at the Encore theater, but her addiction costs her marriage, her dignity, and nearly her life.

Joey leaves a farewell letter mentioning a new program called Alcoholics Anonymous. Mattie, after a two-day withdrawal marked by hallucinations of snakes and transparent vermin, is rescued by a fellow performer named Heidi and rushed to the hospital. She survives. She joins AA. She builds a new life marriage, children, and twenty-five years of entertaining for free in nursing homes and local organizations. Joey dies of lung cancer, but they remained in touch.