After he gets out of school every day, Jackson Lounsbury jumps on his bicycle and explores his new hometown of Scottsboro.

Jackson and his mother and younger brother just moved to town a few months ago, but it didn’t take him long to discover Payne’s Soda Fountain, the ice cream shop that has served this northeast Alabama town since 1865.

Now, hardly a day goes by that Jackson doesn’t stop by Payne’s for an ice cream cone. He usually paid for his ice cream with money he earned from doing odd jobs for his mother’s friend Daniel Johnson.

But when he ran out of that spending money, he dipped into the coin collection that his grandmother had passed along to him. Unbeknownst to Jackson, those old coins were worth a lot more than their face value.

Lisa Garrett, who owns Payne’s, did, however, recognize their value, and she quietly started to put them aside.

The rest of the story is a sweet treat. You can read it here.