PART 2 — THE WALLET
Marks new boss, the older man in the tweed jacket, set a worn brown leather wallet on the bar. Mark, he said quietly, five years ago your brother drove to my fathers house at midnight.
He opened the wallet and took out a folded note. Mark reached for it. His boss pulled it back. Not yet, he said. First I want everyone here to know what was inside when he brought it back.
Five years ago, the boss told the room, his elderly father had dropped his wallet at the curb on trash day, not realizing it. Inside was more than a thousand dollars in cash, his ID, and a photograph of his late wife that could never be replaced.
A garbage man found it on his route. He did not have to do anything but toss it or pocket it. Instead he tracked down the address, drove across the city after his shift, and knocked on an old mans door at midnight to put the wallet back in his hands, every dollar still in it, the photograph safe.
The trash man Mark mocked had driven across the city at midnight to return a thousand dollars and an irreplaceable photo to a stranger, and never asked for a thing.
That garbage man was Joey. Marks own little brother.
The old man had written a note that very night and kept a copy. When he passed, his son found it and had carried it ever since, waiting to learn who the young man was. He only put it together when he heard Mark, at his own vice president party, raise a glass of scotch and say, to the trash man, my bonus is bigger than your salary.
The boss unfolded the note and read it aloud. It said, A young man brought my wallet back tonight with everything in it. He would not take a reward. There are still good people in this world, and tonight one of them drives a garbage truck.
Mark, who had just toasted his own promotion by mocking his brother, could not look up from the bar.
Joey just laughed, a little embarrassed, and handed his nephew a soda. He said he only did what anybody decent would do. Nineteen years on the city routes, and he had never mentioned it once.
The boss shook Joeys hand in front of the whole party. I kept wondering where I had heard the family name, he said. Now I know. Your brother is the finest man I never got to thank, until tonight.