lost and found
Yesterday I took a walk around a local beauty spot, one near a lake. It had been raining recently and the paths around the lake were muddy with puddles everywhere. I got to a point along the path where the lake had extended across the path and there was no obvious way through. So I turned back.
About ten strides into my walk back, something caught my eye on the ground. It was a mobile phone, laying on the grassy edge of the path. I stooped down, picked it up and turned it over in my hand to see what kind of device it was. There was a shout from down the path.
Looking up, I saw a couple walking towards me, the man was half waving and half pointing. "You've found our phone!" he said as he got near. The woman, red-faced and out of breath said "Oh my God I thought it had gone forever!"
I offered it across to the woman who seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I could give you a massive hug!" she said, but didn't. "Did you hear it ringing?" the man asked me. "No" I replied, "I just saw it on the path there when it caught the sun." He pulled out his phone and jabbed at the screen. A feeble, distant ringtone wafted from the newly recovered phone. "It's too bloody quiet!" He said to the woman, angrily.
I pointed out that I had originally walked past it, only turning back because of the blocked path; suggesting that they might have walked past it too, had the path been clear. The overflowing lake had done them a favour.
We walked back the way we came and chatted a bit. It turned out that she lived in the same village as my aunt and knew her. How strange.
Later, I reflected on how I immediately took the man's word for it that it was their phone. He could have just seen me pick it up and opportunistically claimed it. Obviously it was the woman's phone as he then called it in front of me, but initially I handed it over, no questions asked.
Anyway, there's no point to this story. I helped someone out, made their day and went home feeling good about myself.