Paying it forward

"Don't lose that money," I tell Joey as we walked into the Derry Wal-Mart that Friday afternoon. "You should really put it in your pocket."

"I won't lose it", he replied. Like his brothers, he was eager to get to the toy aisle in the store to shop. Their father had recently rewarded them for their good report cards. And even though Jeffrey wasn't in school, he was given monetary compensation because how could his three brothers get something while he got nothing?

The boys peruse the aisles and make their selections, opting not to spend it all at once so they could come on another day again. "I want to go to the self-checkout," Christopher said, "because I want to scan my stuff and pay so I get the change from the machine." So we go to an open register and I walk him through the process of scanning and bagging his items, and finally feeding the machine so he could get his change back. He is collecting his dollar bills and coins when Joey realizes he is holding two items, neither of which is his crisp twenty dollar bill.

"Joey, please don't tell me you lost that money after I told you to put it in your pocket." I am irritated. I knew I should have taken the money from him to avoid this very possibility which has now taken place. The devastation wouldn't be so bad if it was a $1. But it was $20 and all I could think of was the lucky shopper who most likely stumbled across the money and was thinking how lucky he was to come upon such a find.

We retrace our steps back to the toy section and search on the shelves, underneath them, to no avail. I am convinced the money is as good as gone and there is no way to recoup it and how can I tell Joey he can't have what he selected because he now has no means of paying for it because I shouldn't have placed that responsibility on a 5-year-old in the first place and wasn't it my fault the money was gone?

Our search comes up with nothing as we head back to the front of the store to pay for the rest of our things. But before we do, I go to the customer service desk because what did I have to lose since we lost the money already? "I know it's a long shot," I say to the cashier, "but by any chance, did anybody turn in a twenty dollar bill?" The boys stand beside me with hope still in their eyes, even after I repeated more than once that the money was most likely gone.

"Funny you should ask that," the woman replies, "because there was just a gentleman here who said he found money, but he didn't say how much. He's just around the corner, waiting for a manager." We turn to where she is pointing, and she points out the tall man with the blue vest. "That's him," she say. "He's talking to the manager."

The boys follow me to where the man is standing with the manager. They stop conversing, look at me expectantly. The manager probably thinks I want to ask him a question, when my question is not for him at all. "You didn't happen to find a crisp twenty dollar bill, did you?" And this man who is standing before me holds up a crisp twenty dollar bill and not only can I not believe my own eyes, but our fortunate luck that the money was found by a good samaritan who was going out of his way to inquire about what the policy was that Wal-Mart had in place if and when somebody lost cold hard cash in the toy aisle of their store. "Joey," I say, turning to him. "You are incredibly lucky." The man smiles, hands me the money. "Why don't you let your mom hold it," he tells Joey.

I am speechless, and my gratitude to this kind gentleman comes out in broken sentences that are left hanging. "Thank you so much. It's so nice to know there are still people like you... I can't thank you enough." I want to hug this stranger and tell him he is blessed. The manager is smiling and Joey is smiling and everybody is happy in the moment. "Thank you," I tell him, "for paying it forward."