Finders Keepers Losers Weepers

There it was.  Trapped beneath the leg of the desk as if someone had deliberately placed it there.  Lionel looked at it and he thought to himself, “This must be my lucky day.”  He pondered further, “No one is around, no one would know.  Plus, I don’t even have a cent in my name.”   

Lifting the desk leg with his left hand, he removed the note and pocketed it.  He had usually received an allowance of two dollars and fifty cents but this was twice as much money.   “Boy, isn’t this my lucky day?”  He thought.

Lionel strutted outside, his spirit soaring.  He thought only of the many things he could buy.  On his way toward the school gate to buy a pack of nibbles, he met a classmate.  With tears in his eyes Jeff inquired, “Have you seen my money anywhere?  I’ve looked all over the playing field and I can’t find it.”

Lionel thought, “It couldn’t be the money I found.”

All of a sudden the pack of nibbles did not appeal to Lionel anymore.  Reluctantly he pushed his hand in his pocket and withdrew the note.  Jeff’s eyes sparkled.  “Thank you!  Thank you!” he cried in delight.  “Come and let me buy you a pack of nibbles.”

                                                              

Stewart Russell © 1999