Of Need and Righteousness

Standing on the side of the road, he was immersed in thoughts of how funny the guy across the street looked, while tapping his foot to the beat of the song playing in a nearby cafe.

A car pulled up beside him. "Hey you", said the man in the front seat. "Your friend there just dropped his wallet on the ground."

Squinting his eyes in the glaring sunlight, he saw a black object on the pavement some 20 meters away from him, followed by a group of youngsters walking away from it. Without hesitation, he sprinted to the congregation of people, deftly picking up the wallet along the way.

"Hey guys! One of you dropped this wallet?"

Heads turned. One by one, they shook their head and said simply,

"No."

He stood there, looking dumbfoundedly at the group of students who just shuffled away nonchalantly.

The wallet opened under his fingertips, and he began searching for some form of identification. Train tickets and Salon Cards in Korean popped up in front of him, and he found what he was looking for. This Korean kid was from the college to his rear.

His fingers then subconsciously opened the compartment that should hold the cash. He gasped. In that little space was 10 blue notes equaling to the high side of RM500, maybe even RM600 if he counted all the red and green ones.

He stared at it for a good 5 seconds. Snapping out from his daze, he looked at his surroundings. No one was looking, no one even noticed he was there. Thoughts formed in his head. The pros and cons of each decision started to take shape.

He could have just swiped all the money in that little pouch, and no human would have known. To think of all the clothes that he could buy! Probably give a little to charity, just to calm his guilt.

Instead, he looked up, closed his eyes, and listened. Seconds passed, and he knew what he had to do. He turned around and walked through the security entrance of the college now in front of him, heading to get the contact number of the unfortunate Korean guy.

He knew from the beginning it was the only thing he would have done.

He was,

Shaun