Finders, Keepers
Ralph Gallagher
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2009 Ralph Gallagher
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” - Frederick Keonig
As he walked out of the busy mall, Fred grinned to himself, Jake is going to love this. He’d saved for months to buy the Playstation 3 for his brother’s birthday, and the kid was going to flip when he saw it. Walking to his car at the back of the parking lot, he grumbled about how lucky he’d been to get the space just half an hour ago. He was too lost in his own mind to notice that he was being watched.
He opened the trunk of the shiny silver Chevrolet Corvette that his grandparents had bought him two years ago for a graduation present, and carefully placed the box containing the $400 game system next to the few groceries his mother had asked him to pick up for the party.
After shutting the trunk, he walked around to the driver’s side door. When he got there, he noticed that a newspaper had been carelessly thrown on the ground. Rolling his eyes, he bent down and picked it up. Out of curiosity, he glanced at the headline. The headline was about the local girl who had gone missing, he knew the story well, as it was all over the news. The media had dubbed the kidnapper “The Monopoly Killer” because monopoly money always accompanied the ransom notes. They said that after the kidnapper got the money he would kill the child and leave a monopoly piece near their bodies too.
Fred walked the paper over to one of the trashcans near his car and tossed it in. One of his pet peeves was when people littered.
Just before he turned to go back to his car, something caught his eye. There was a large manila envelope leaning up against the trash can. He picked it up and was about to toss it in the can when he noticed that the envelope weighed quite a bit.
Once again his curiosity got the better of him and he opened the envelope. His jaw dropped as he opened the envelope and caught a look at its contents. Hardly believing his eyes, Fred struggled with suddenly clumsy fingers not to drop the entire package as he attempted to remove the contents.
Inside the envelope there was a stack of money. He leafed through the bills and for the second time, almost dropped it. They were all hundreds.
He counted all the money inside. Wow. There was $15,000 in there! He stood there staring dumbly at the wad of cash for five minutes before his brain began to function again. Surely he should turn in the money to the police. But then again… if someone has enough money to carry around $15,000 in cash, they wouldn’t miss it, now would they?
His body refused to move, too shocked by the find to do anything but stare dumbly. When he finally got the strength to move again he walked back to his car and got in. He sat in the driver’s seat for another five minutes trying to figure out what to do.