The Palisadian-Post has partnered with Paul Revere Charter Middle School to highlight a series of pieces from its 2022 Literary Anthology. The following piece, penned by Theodore Winston, originally appeared in the Short Stories section of the anthology, released in spring, and has been reprinted here with permission.
It was a sunny day at the park. While it was a nice day, Jack couldn’t ignore the enormous looming shadows of the oak trees. As the oaks swayed in the wind, the laughing of children faded and all Jack could hear was the crooked creaking tree he had spent most of his childhood on.
He walked over slowly and took a deep breath. The comfortable silence made him slightly melancholy knowing he would never be able to return to the state of mind of his youth. The silhouette of the tree swayed, Jack breathed and everything was well.
Suddenly, Jack noticed something, the medium sized rock that was sitting in front of him was a little misshapen. It seemed to have … a zipper? Jack got up and strolled over to the zipper-rock trying not to look suspicious. He picked it up and the leathery feeling surprised him. He realized what he was holding at that moment was a wallet. A tan wallet that looked as if it was a rock.
Jack grasped it in his hand, feeling its weight. Something was inside. He reached into it and felt bills. Jack pulled his hand out and grasped what was $520 in cash. It felt weird in his palm, he had never held that much money. He was surprised, his face lifted then lowered. He didn’t know what to do.
He had a few options, he thought. The money would be great if he kept it, but the guilt that crept through him was unsettling. Then again, he did need new basketball shoes. Jack wondered if he could live with the guilt.
He kept looking through the wallet’s pockets and found an ID. It belonged to a local millionaire named Johnson Johnsonson. The millionaire obviously did not need the money so that took some pressure off, but still, it hung over his head. He then thought, “If I did return it, what would happen? Even if I did find the man, would he even give a thought to my kind act? And if he did, would I get something in gratitude? I guess they both have ups and downs. What if I took some of the money and left the rest? Still, greed is a powerful thing.”
Just at that moment Jack happened to see Mr. Johnsonson walking through the park. It seemed that he hadn’t noticed that he lost his wallet. Before Jack could walk away with the wallet, his instinct kicked in and he walked over to Mr. Johnsonson. At that point he could not go back because it would look weird, so he kept walking until he reached him.
He said, “ … Um, Mr. Johnsonson, I think I found your wallet and I wanted to return it to you.” Mr. Johnsonson replied, “Oh my, I hadn’t noticed that I lost it. Thank you very much …” “Jack,” Jack said, “My name’s Jack.” “Well then Jack, I guess I owe a debt of gratitude to you. And I might as well pay it off now while I have the chance.”
Mr. Johnsonson took the money out of the wallet and handed it to Jack. Jack looked surprised and confused, “Wha, why?” “Because the world is becoming more of a greedy place every day and even the littlest kindness can change a lot,” said Mr. Johnsonson.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.