Thank God for Friends!

“…I’m still waiting for my credit card application,” Emmanuel answers. Anna had just asked him why he still didn’t have the required books and the laptop he would need as the semester goes on. Anna was his classmate at UCL.

“Oh,” she replies. But as an afterthought, asks, “Why don’t you give Coinjars a shot?”

“Coinjars? What’s that?” he asks with a laugh, recalling the way his grandma used to recycle peanut butter glass jars and place her loose coins in them.

“You haven’t heard of it? It’s this new application in FaceBook. When you add it, it’s like you’re adding a virtual piggybank in your account.”

“But what’s the point of having one?” Emmanuel asks, confused.

“Don’t you see it? It’s a really good place for people who need to raise funds. People like yourself,” she adds a matter-of-factly.

He pauses for a while, digesting what Anna had just said. “You mean to say that I can update my status request in Facebook and ask for people’s help?”

“Yup, add the application, and— wait, you already have a Facebook account right?”

“Yeah, I do. I’m not that behind with the times,” he adds sarcastically.

“Right. Where was I? Oh yeah, you add the application and you state your case. And then you wait.”

“What do you mean wait?”

“Wait for iCoins to pour in— digital cash,” she adds before he could even ask what it was.

“Cool! But wait, I’m curious, how do they send money, err, digital cash, to me?”

“These people, let’s call them donors, also have their own piggybanks or wallets which they have already loaded with money via paypal, bank transfer, or credit card. And these loaded wallets enable them to send and receive iCoins anytime.”

“Wow! So the money just pours in?”

“Yeah, you’d be surprised. Like, I have a friend who got to go on a trip to Europe and another one who got to spend his ski ing holiday in France… and if I’m not mistaken, he— the same friend who got to go to France— also got to spend his break in Newquay.”

“You’ve got to be kidding— just an expression,” he adds quickly before she could make some sassy retort.

“But wait,” he stops, as if to rethink his question. “How would I know that my iCoin-filled Coinjar is safe?”

“Hmm. Good question. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that it’s kept in an eMoney operation called a treasury called the uh, the Mintflow Limited in the Isle of Man.”

“It’s like an online bank account but IN Facebook, where you spend a lot of time right!” she continued, sensing that he was not fully convinced. “It’s pretty secure. They even have an audit trail whether or not you opt to keep your donation anonymous.”

“Wow. But don’t you think a service like that would charge a lot? I mean, banks charge a lot for payment processing and the like…”

“Actually, they have no extra charges.”

He laughs, “Now I know you’re kidding!”

“I’m not”

“Riggght,” he replies disbelievingly, but sensing her seriousness, takes back his sarcastic retort.

“I— [sound of phone ringing] wait, I think that’s my phone. Ma told me she was gonna call me anytime today—excuse me, Ann”

“—Hey mom! I’m so glad you called, I think I just figured out how to buy my books and that laptop— even how I’m going to send you guys money,”

“That sounds great! Nothing illegal, I hope,” she tells him teasingly.

“Not really— I mean, not totally,” he jokes. They exchange a few more jokes, I miss yous, and more I miss yous and only stopped because their connection got cut off. They were really close.

Recalling something as he puts his cell back in his pocket, he tells Ann that he has to run along. “But before I do, I want to thank you.”

“No problem. Just spreading the good news,” she quips.

A few weeks later they would meet again and he would be carrying his laptop and all his books.