Cheque please

DS1 and I made a quick trip into the city yesterday. He had some things he had to pick up and wondered if I wanted to go along for company.  I jumped at the chance for some quality 1 on 1 with my boy.

We always have great conversations when we drive together. For most of the drive we talked hockey....his old team...his new team...future possibilities. I have always said he should become a sports broadcaster. He can recall details of players, teams and games with amazing accuracy and analysis. I marvel that he can do that, but 'forgets' to pick up his towel off his bedroom floor.

He educated me on what his role will be with his new team and gave me insight on who the new cast of characters will be. I learned the most on our discussion of the NHL camps happening this week. Two of his former teammates are at camps right now, and several of his soon to be teammates are there now. It's going to be an exciting year playing with such talented young men and he is excited at his chances for growth.

Anyhoo, back to the cheque. While we were in the city we were running into a box store at the edge of town so DS could grab something. My eyes caught a piece of paper on the sidewalk outside the store. It was a folded in two cheque. DS reached down to grab it and it was made out for $600 and signed, but NO name on the TO line. I always worried that one of the boys would lose  a cheque when we sent them with one for something and I always filled in the 'to' line.

There was a name and some information on the cheque owner but no phone number. It was from a small community not far from the city. I sat on a bench outside the store while DS went in, waiting to see if someone would come running up with a panicked, frantic look in their eyes. No such luck. I googled the name in the white pages but  no phone number came up. So I called the bank number on the cheque, which was local and let them know what I had found and asked if they could contact their client to let them  know. She took down some cheque information and thanked me and suggested I tear up the cheque.

Still waiting for DS I tried googling the last name and the town, and found a listing with the same PO box number. We are talking small town of about 500 ppl.  I took a chance that the number was the father of the owner of my cheque and called. No one answered so I left a short message on their machine, and DS and I went on our way.


As DS and I drove home, I realized this might very well be our last road trip, just the two of us, like this, and  tears starting rolling down my cheeks. He looked at me and laughed and said " I wondered how long it would take for you to do that."  Brat LOL


When we got home last night I had two phone calls to my cell....one from the mother of the cheque owner and one a bit later from the son. Both were so thankful and appreciative that someone honest had found their cheque. It was a lovely feel good moment.

DS asked if the thought of just cashing that cheque for myself crossed my mind. I said no, for two reasons: one....it just would not sit right with my spirit, and two....the cheque would be traced back to me :-)

DS said that if it could have been totally anonymous in the cashing....no chance of tracing, there is a chance he would have cashed it.

So I throw it out to you. If you found a cheque for $600 on the ground and could cash it totally anonymously, do you think you would? :-)