$20 and a Decision

I’ve been trying to eat better in the mornings (yeah yeah, the beers at night are negating any good intentions I have during the day). But instead of sausage and egg sandwiches, I’ve taken to stopping to pick up oranges and yogurt for breakfast. It’s more filling, doesn’t weigh me down, and feels slightly better for my body. I think that…. mmmmmmmmm….. sausage……

Alright. Sorry about that.

This morning, I’ve got my orange sitting on top of my cup of peach yogurt. I take out my wallet and pull out two dollars. I pay, and I start for the door. A obviously well-to-do man in his forties, wearing a suit and trenchcoat, carrying a briefcase points to the ground beside me.

"You dropped some money" he tells me, nodding at the ground.

I stoop down and pick up a crisp twenty dollar bill, folded into fourths. I look around, holding the bill in my hands. At this point, my wallet is still out; I decide to check. I knew that I had two twenties in my wallet, and both of them were still there. I think about things some more, and realize that there’s no way I could have caused the creases in this crisp twenty dollar bill. My wallet folds in half, and I would have no reason to fold a $20 twice.

I look up at the cashier.

I show her the twenty dollars and say "This isn’t mine."

She smiles and says "Well, it looks like it’s yours."

You’d think I’d be giddy, having just had the universe hand me $20, just because. But for some reason, it feels wrong to me. That money doesn’t feel right in my hands. I know what luck feels like – I’ve been in love before. And this wasn’t a lucky feeling at all.

I look up at the cashier and walk towards the man.

When I approach him, his back is to me and he’s looking over some donuts. I hold the bill up in the air, much like I did to the cashier.

"This," I tell the man in the suit, "this isn’t my money."

"Well," he says. "It is now."

"I think it should be yours. You found it first."

I hand him the twenty dollars.

The man looks at me for a second and says "I’m not gonna stand here and argue."

He takes the bill and I walk away.