gifts

Riding my bike along the hudson river where the people like to roll and stroll along, i did a double-take as i rode by a crumpled green paper in the grass. not wanting to impede the flow of traffic, i kept going, yet i thought to myself, That looked like a dollar bill. i rode a little farther down the path thinking, Surely by now someone would have picked it up. I don't want to turn around. It'll look silly.

Two seconds later I whipped my bike around and went back to the spot, where, after dropping my bike in the grass, i found not one, not two, but three dollar bills and a ten and a five. Seventeen bucks mixed in with the grass blades. a couple walked by and asked if i needed help. i guess my kneeling in the grass with my bike beside me was something unusual. i said Thanks, no...tucked my find in my pocket while giving gratitude to whatever source this lovely lucre had come from, got back on my bicycle and rode on to Fairway down the road. I'd been wondering how much i had for groceries, and now i could relax a bit. As i was walking through the entryway, lined with shelves of chips, i took out the money and as i was holding up the five, the air conditioner over the door blew it out of my hand and under a rack of chips. Nooooooo....

I leaned over and looked under the rows of Pirate's Booty, but saw nothing. a Fairway employee was passing by and i asked him to look under the shelf for me. huh? but he did it, and after a little belly shimmy, came out with my found five. i thanked him a lot and realized that that was the second time in under an hour that i was willing to not blend in, to do something that would bring me attention. all because i saw and then held something i wanted.