By Christa Saeger, as told to Geoffrey Dean
Toward the end of the last scheduled class period a violist in the school orchestra comes in and tells me, I found a 100 dollars in the bathroom, and I’m like, OK, I’ll keep it with me in case anybody claims it.
And so you know of course I can’t go around and ask if anybody lost a 100 dollars cuz everybody would claim it. So I planned to take it to the office first thing the next day.
I leave school with a colleague, M—, who was giving me a ride. We pass this old couple that live under a bridge and M— says, I always try to give them a little something when I drive by, and before I know it I’m saying, M—, do you want to do something crazy? I have this 100 dollar bill that somebody found at school—
And she’s like, That’s a great idea.
And I’m thinking I may be out a 100 dollars if anyone claims it tomorrow.
So the husband comes up to the window. I give him the bill and he puts it straight in his pocket, doesn’t even look at it. And I’m like, Just so you know, it’s a 100 dollar bill. And he’s surprised, in complete disbelief. He just keeps thanking us, saying we’re angels.
And M—’s boys (4 out of 5 of them) are watching all this from the back seat.
Then he goes back to tell his wife, who’s blind and huddled under a blanket. She kind of pushes him back in disbelief. Then they embrace, and don’t let go. It was so beautiful.
The light turns green. Literally the moment we pull away, M— asks me, Where did the girl find that bill?
Me: Over by the bathroom.
M—: Cuz I think I dropped 100 dollars that I was storing in my bra. (Later I tried to test out how one might keep something in a place like that. I couldn’t figure out how to do it.)
Me: I’m so sorry, I just gave away y o u r 100 dollars to those homeless people.
M—, laughing: No, it was totally worth it.
Her son, little A—: I’m pretty sure that guy was crying. That was something. They were like hugging each other.
The scene didn’t really seem to register with M—’s other boys – they just wanted to get home and eat pizza.
| Copyright © 2016 by Christa Saeger, Geoffrey Dean |
Geoffrey was so excited to write down this story...
ReplyDeleteHow did Geoffrey express his excitement? I'd like to be able to picture it as though I had been there and witnessed it for myself.
DeleteI was like, that's an awesome story, and to think it's even true! And so I had her tell it again as I typed. It would have been more effective as a video clip however.
ReplyDeleteWell, next time take out your iPhone and start videoing! We can put it on the blog.
Delete