Good deed

How often are we required to do good deeds? One a day? One a year? Okay, when they present themselves. Well, I did mine.

Yesterday I was going to the grocery store. As I left, zipping along to make the light, I noticed a billfold lying in the street.

I made the light, did a u-turn and waited for the same light from the opposite direction to change. At the second light I made an u-turn on a red light. I didn't care, I had to save this billfold! I drove up along side of it, scooped it up, did some more u-turns and waiting for lights and pulled back into the grocery store parking lot.

I felt like I was violating someone, going through their most personal things. I opened it up and saw Audrey, a 74 year old woman looking back at me from her driver's license picture. I felt sick. Poor Audrey, does she know her billfold is missing? I can only assume she placed it on top of her car to put her groceries in and took off forgetting about it.

I looked at her checks, no number. I looked through various compartments looking for some sort of phone number. I saw pictures of grandchildren peering back at me. A casino punch card, a flower frequent buyer card, a couple credit cards and lists written out in a cursive writing for a generation passed.

I paged through the check book again and saw that she had written a phone number on a few of the checks. I call and ask for Audrey.

"Audrey doesn't live at this number" said a female voice of many cigarettes smoked.

As I stammered trying to figure out what to say next I blurted out, "I found her billfold in the street".

Pause and a groggy cackle, "That's my mother".

Whew.

I clutched the billfold to my chest, protecting it from any evil that lurked. I had a certain obligation now to get the billfold to safety, for Audrey.

I told the daughter where I'd leave it, she thanked me. I filled in the associate working at the place I left the billfold on what happened and how this precious billfold and I have seen great things, we've conquered the odds, we are safe and I was on my way.