Honesty in a Box

A good story, and a terrific lesson learned for the little girl who plucked a cracker box from a grocery shelf and found ten thousand dollars in cash.

Last year, on a sunny, beautiful day I was in town to meet my barn advisers for brunch in the local eatery and a wee bit early I dropped by to say hello to one of the merchants I was interviewing for another story. As I was leaving the shop, I spotted a white, somewhat bulky envelope on the door sill. There were no notes, no address, no identification on or in the envelope stuffed with small bills totally just over one hundred dollars.

I immediately started asking, "did anyone say they lost some money?"

I went up and down the street in town asking "did anyone report losing money?"

I had the real estate agent check around.

The waitresses asked around.

The antique dealer asked around.

Weeks went by and I got a call from a local acquaintance who said she had lost some money. Unfortunately the sum she lost (more than a thousand dollars) was not the sum in my found envelope.

More weeks went by as the white, crumbled envelope sat in one of the pigeon holes in my desk.

Months went by and no one claimed the money.

Finally after about six months I guiltily spent it.