Good tunes, good credit, and code violations

[RvW]

I was driving past the rest area in pleasant valley south of Tillamilk the other day, and swore I saw a wallet in the road.

I thought to myself "what are the chances?" and kept driving but it sort-of bugged me. Like not checking the stove and the front door when you leave for vacation...
So about 15 miles later, when the song I was screeching along with on the radio had ended, somewhere near Hebo, (or was it three good songs in a row? Nah, not on a Tillamook radio station)
I grumbled and turned around thinking I would see the story of "lost fortunes in TIllamook" later that night on the news if I didnt.

When I returned (Three very long and bad songs later) I flipped on the flashers in my work truck and parked along side the road.
Sure enough, a fat leather checkbook lay opened and face down in the center of traffic. I could already smell the steak I would buy, and see the B movie I would rent with a portion of the "hit and run" dollars that lie in wait of my rescue!

Packed full of checks, credit cards and more credit cards with PIN numbers written on pieces of paper! (I think) I suddenly envision the endless messages on the underside of a Sprite bottle cap "Sorry, please try again"

NO CASH!

Darn it, just my luck, story of my life... I'm adrift swimming in the open sea exactly 50 miles from shore and I find a leaky liferaft with exactly 49 MILES OF AIR LEFT IN IT!

I gathered the worthless-to-me goodies when traffic allowed, stuck it all together in the wallet and ran back to my truck...thumbed through and found a drivers license.

The checkbook belonged to a gentleman in Pacific City and I happened to be going that way for a quik project, so I turned on my computer, opened up a map program and got directions to "Micheals" house.
He wasnt home! (duh, he was likely somewhere near Pleasant Valley I figured) So I did my job, and drove over to the hardware store...(They know everyone! or can at least gossip about anyone :grin: )

Bingo, The ole dude at the PC hardware store knew where Mikes wife worked ( Hmm... uh oh? ) so I called her and despite the garbled connection I managed to hear that Mike was just a few hundred yards from where I found the wallet, excavating a piece of his property.
...Oh, and "DAMN THAT MAN!" was perfectly audible too coming from Mikes wife via AT&T wireless service.

By now Im running late and had to go up to Jennies house to make sure PUD didnt cut her IFish phone lines while they replace a slough of telephone poles in her front yard. (convieniently and effectively displaying my IFish sticker in plain view :tongue: )
I wrap up there and head back to Pleasant Valley to find Mike.

I pulled up to Mikes property with my strobes on and jump out of my truck with my bright orange safety vest. Mike does a double take like hes just seen "the ghost of Tillamook county building inspectors passed"
(Seems he didnt have a permit yet for the excavating he was doing... Poor old man looked like he was going to have a heart attack and leave me with no op to follow through on my severely delinquent good deed for the day)

I casually walk up to him and his roaring trackhoe, stopped to light a smoke and have a look around, (maybe just a little for antagonizing effect) and when I have his full attention, ask if he is "Micheal S."

"Uh, who wants to know" he says.

I smile knowing it was him by the photo on the ODL, smile even more assuming I knew what he was thinking, and reached into my back pocket to hand him his wallet.

Mikes jaw dropped. "Good lord" he says and then stares at me with a blank look as he counts the cards with his fingertips.

"I found this little piece of big trouble out on the highway" I told him as he continued to have flashbacks of the last time he saw his checkbook, and what it would be like to never see it again.

We introduced ourselves, spoke for a while and to make a short story even longer, the man owns a whole bunch of property and an aviation business. I will soon be living in a house of his that needs a little restoration, working a little here and there on it and others to cover my bills, and will have a place to live and an income when my job (and vacation) ends in March.

Kharma?

Eh, I dont know, I'd rather define it as someone up lookin down. (and someone "down" lookin up?)


***


(P.S. Mike left the wallet in the bed of his truck when he got gas in Pleasant Valley, he mentioned there was a $50 in the wallet earlier that morning which I had not discovered, but I hesitantly took his advice to go back. I found it on the other side of the road the next morning, after looking for a mere 10 seconds... stuck under a blackberry branch.)

[ 09-20-2003, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: Row Vs. Wade ]

[OceanBlue]

AWESOME story, man... and I DO mean AWE-SOME!

[1pump]

Cool!
Same thing happened to me once. I left my wallet full of credit cards and $400 in cash in the foot tray of my Wave Runner while I was gassing it up. I pulled out of the gas station and the wallet fell out, scattering cards everywhere.

About an hour later I was mowing my front lawn when I saw a woman walking down the sidewalk toward me. She was holding a white card and looking up at me, then back at the card (it was my DL). In her other hand I recognized my wallet. :shocked: So I know that jaw-dropping feeling.
She had gathered everything up and stuffed it back in the wallet, and the cash was still in there. Unbelievable good fortune.
I tried to give her two $20 bills for bringing it back to me, but she refused. But she did tell me where she worked (right next to the gas station where I lost it) so after she left I called her employer to tell him what she did. It was the least I could do.