Lost , and found if you are lucky

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Billfolds. I could write a book…I have found a few…one was stuffed with big cash . A friend had just been paid for his side-job as a cabinet maker. He only took cash for that work. It literally was several thousand dollars, but I didn’t count it…I just pulled the I.D., I knew him. He bought me a jug of bourbon and 2 cases of beer.
I found one while cycling in rural Ohio. It was a purse, no cash, just a billfold in it, full of all kinds of credit cards and I.D.s.
I called the lady…she lived in Royal Oak MI. She was so happy…until she asked me about the cash. She said “I had three hundred dollars in there!” She had lost it or had it stolen while at an I-75 rest stop by Findlay. Whoever stole it or found it kept the dough and chucked the rest into a ditch, many miles away. I took the time and expense to mail it to her, but she was an ungrateful human being.
The last one was a ragged , worn leather billfold, found on the floor at a Wal*Mart. It was stuffed with what was most likely a cashed paycheck. Easy solution: don’t even look at the I.D.—take to store security, like I did last summer when I found a pitiful billfold with a guy’s state I.D. and a couple cards in it. It was in the street a block from my house—straight to cop station—they wanted me to fill out forms and all that, which I refused to do. I just said if they don’t want to take it to the person I would do it, and walked out.
My personal nightmare was in 1986. I had exited Comiskey Park after Opening Day. I was boarding the 35th St. train to the Loop and as I stepped in I felt a brush …even though I had my wallet in my front pocket,I had been pickpocketed.I stepped backwards and started screaming at a kid who was scurrying away. It’s an art form. The thieves pass the stolen wallet back and forth so it’s 3 card monty figuring it out.

I caught up with the kid and he acted innocent and pointed at a young man as the thief, and I screamed at him, and felt bad as he was innocent. Then a lady was waving my wallet around saying “Did someone drop this?” I thanked her…the little bastards had taken my cash ($118), my Amtrak ticket ($37) and my library card, but I got my drivers license and credit cards back. I was actually very lucky. I had to buy a new Amtrak ticket to get home.
But it ruined me for a long time. For years, I kept essentials in a lock-box and only carried what I needed for that day…if I didn’t need gasoline, I would not carry my card…if I was walking or cycling, no driver’s license…if I wasn’t shopping, no credit cards left the lock-box. If I wasn’t shopping, no cash except a little coinage. I was paranoid to the max. I am still very careful and always have all essential information about my cards and all I.D. on a server-file so if I lose stuff, I can get right to replacing it.