Money for Lunch

13th Feb 2008
While walking the 5 - 600 yards uphill to the church I stumbled across a £5 note on the pavement. It was twitching in the wind all screwed up and worn out. It appeared the owner had been the type of person who was always in a hurry just throwing things into their pockets without taking any care as to their safety. In one thoughtless moment they put their hand in to pull out some keys and flicked out the money onto the pavement. Now one would think that I would be happy to find what the careless left behind but I hate finding money on the road. It takes me back to when I was a child and seeing my father lose a £5.00 note. I can still feel the panic and see the distress in his and my mother’s eyes as they tore around the house desperate to make it reappear. It was one of those moments where wish I could fix their troubles but I knew I was powerless to do anything about it.
So here I am looking for the owner of this rather sad and pathetic looking fiver with the same sense of loss and disappointment, knowing that at some point today they are going to reach into their pocket to pay for lunch or maybe a coffee and have the embarrassment of not having any money.
I keep the money clenched in my fist and begin to run up the hill hoping spot to someone who looked like a candidate for loosing something. In the distance there had been a man in a cream jacket with who was walking up toward the city centre. As I neared the top of the hill the man looking rather lost suddenly turned and came back toward me. I’m looking at him thinking he must be the one after all he wasn’t very neat and tidy. He passed by me back down the hill still looking a little lost so I gather the confidence to stop him in his tracks. Now at this point I’m not sure how to approach the matter. I mean if I say did you lose some money he might just think it’s his lucky day and say yes! So I plump for the more generic option and say "Did you lose something just now?” he turns toward me, an aging Indian or Pakistani with slightly wild hair going grey over the ears. Looking shocked and slightly confused he stutters "Er, no I don’t think so" now I’m caught, what do I do next? It’s getting a little awkward and I’m beginning to regret ever starting this conversation, so rather than pursuing the matter I let him go. Turning back up the hill I think to myself "oh well least I got a fiver for my lunch!