Spare Change

 

I wanted to buy an old car but one that was dependable.  I couldn’t spend much but really needed it to be not just a piece of junk.  What I ended up finding was an old Chevy Nova.  It was a two door with a stick on the column. 

When I got it home, the first thing I did was wash it and clean out the inside.  Based on all the stuff I pulled out of that car, I’d have to say that last owner was a slob.  I’m not perfect, but yikes!  There were candy wrappers, kid’s toys, half of a sandwich and lots of fast-food wrappers.

Here's the thing, in the trunk, under the spare tire I found a brown paper bag.  There was $3800.00 in it.  I only paid $400. for the car.  I don’t know why but returning this money to the previous owner of the car didn’t seem right.  Not that I’m a crook, but it just felt wrong to return it.

Maybe he wasn’t aware it was in there.  Someone else, maybe some drug dealer stashed it away for safekeeping.  But if that’s the case, I really don’t need anyone to come around looking for it.  If I were smart, I’d spend it fixing this thing up.  I could put new tires and brakes on it.  Get a tune-up and oil change, maybe new whiper blades, whatever it needed, like a little body work and maybe a new paint job.  Most likely, I’d still have money left over.

Two days after I had accomplished all that, my phone rang.  It was the guy I had bought the car from.  Actually, it was the guy’s wife.  She informed me that her ex-husband had no right to sell it, and she wanted it back.  She said she would return my $400.00

I couldn’t see getting in the middle of all that, so I returned the car to her, and she handed me $400.00 in cash.  I told her that it was in better shape than when I bought it.  “Yes, I can see you washed it.”

Once back home I again began my search for a car.  I still had my $400.00 and now I had $11.25 left from all the car work I had done, so even though I still needed a car, I had come out ahead.