John R Purcell

These days when mail can be sent and received electronically in seconds with computers, it is rare to receive a hand written personal letter the old fashioned way, delivered to your mailbox. So it was a surprise to Mr. Persky when he found one in his box with his name on it in large , printed letters, but with no address or stamp, obviously left by someone other than the mailman. When he opened it he found a sheet of lined notebook paper with hand printed lettering typical of a child's writing, and when he saw the name of the sender, he knew who sent it. It was from a young boy who he had not met personally but who was known to him because of an unusual occurrence that involved both of them.

It happened one early morning when Mr. Persky, a retired, older gentleman, was taking his usual walk before breakfast. In one area where he walked, there are no houses but a long section of high wooden fence which borders the backyards of houses on the adjacent street and there is a narrow grassy strip between it and the sidewalk. It is not not unusual for Mr. Persky to see a lot of litter, such as fast food wrappings, beer cans, bottles and all sorts of debris, discarded by passing cars and trucks which pass by during the night. On this morning he found something much more interesting. On the grassy strip next to the fence he saw a child's bicycle helmet which appeared to be in very good condition, not something that normally would would be discarded. Many children ride their bicycles down this sidewalk on the way to the nearby school and possibly one of them may have unknowingly dropped it. Mr. Persky picked it up with the intention of perhaps finding a child who could use it. As he continued on his way a few hundred feet further on , he came upon another item on the grass near the fence. At first he thought it was a large black women's handbag, but it turned out to be a small carrying case similar to the type that sales people use to hold their samples. It was completely closed and because it felt a little heavy something was still inside it. On one side of it a zipper compartment had been opened and what probably were its contents lay on the ground nearby. There was a small bottle of lubricating oil, a package of a cleaner cloth of some kind and a folded sheet of paper which appeared to be a page of sheet music. Mr. Persky gathered up these items and the case along with the bicycle helmet and returned home.

It had become very perplexing as to why these items had mysteriously ended up where they did.

When Mr. Persky arrived home, he opened the case and to his surprise found a disassembled clarinet. It consisted of three separate sections which fit snugly into the small case. There was also a name tag attached to it which had a name, address, phone number and the name of the nearby middle school. It now became evident that the clarinet belonged to a boy, Randy Weller, who probably was a band member at the school noted on the name tag. Since it was still rather early in the morning, Mr. Persky decided to wait until a more reasonable hour to call the phone number on the tag and it being a Saturday, Randy would not be in school. When he made the phone call, a woman answered and after he asked to speak to Randy Weller, she replied that he was not at home and she was his mother. Mr. Persky then told her that he had found something that belonged to Randy. Mrs. Weller then asked, "Is it a clarinet?"

"Why, yes it is," he replied and Mrs. Weller, delighted to hear the good news, thanked him for calling and related how the clarinet happened to be lost.

When Randy came home from school the day before, he left his bicycle with the clarinet case hanging on it in the garage. Some time later, probably after dark, someone entered the open garage and took the bicycle, which was probably what he was after, not the clarinet case. Oddly, he discarded it, probably not knowing what it contained, and the bicycle helmet along with it. It is common for bicycles to be stolen in the area, usually by other boys walking by and seeing them unprotected where children leave them laying around on their front lawns. Mr. Persky also learned that the clarinet was a rental that was worth about three thousand dollars. If the thief had been aware of that fact he probably would never have tossed it aside.

Mr. Persky had given Mrs. Weller his address and she said she or Randy would come by to pick up the clarinet. The Weller house was only a short distance away so he expected to see them rather soon but instead of the Wellers, Mr. Persky was surprised to see a police car in his driveway and two police officers coming to the door. They said that they had come to pick up the clarinet that he had found. Mr. Persky thought it was strange that two police officers had to come to do that but it soon became clear to him that there was more to it than that. One of the officers, a female, commenced asking a lot of questions about how he happened to find the clarinet. She wanted specific details such as the time he found it, the exact location and when she asked to see his drivers license, he began to get annoyed that the police were treating him as if he was a suspect in the crime. The final insult was the demand for a written description of the events that led up to his finding the clarinet. After the female officer read it and consulted her partner, she told Mr. Persky to insert some additional information. After the document was acceptable to her, he was then asked to raise his right hand and swear that the facts as written were true. By this time Mr. Persky was quite annoyed with the entire proceeding and did not appreciate being treated like a criminal. He never did have much regard for the small town police department which, to him, was totally ineffective in solving crimes. He was sure the police would never get the bicycle thief and the intensive interrogation he had had to submit to was totally useless.

After the police left, Mr. Persky was so agitated that he wanted to call Mrs. Weller back and demand to know why she had to send them to his home, but after cooling down, he thought better of it and tried to forget about the incident.

It was later that day when the letter mentioned earlier, was found in Mr. Persky's mailbox. It may have been meant to be delivered to him in person by Randy or his mother and possibly none of the Perskys were able to answer the doorbell and the letter was left for Mr. Persky to find. In the letter, Randy wrote that he wanted to thank him for returning his clarinet, that he thought that he was a very kind person for doing so. He went on to say that the clarinet was a rented one and was very expensive and if he lost it he would have to repay the cost of three thousand dollars. To do that he said he would have to sell a lot of his personal items like the Christmas presents he had recently received. Randy apparently wa so relieved to have the clarinet back that he wanted Mr. Persky to have something in return and had enclosed a gift card for a local department store. It was a small amount , he wrote, and wished it could be more. Mr. Persky was deeply touched that such a young boy who was probably no more than eleven or twelve would react so emotionally over a simple act as returning something that he thought was lost to him and be thoughtful enough to write and thank Mr. Persky for returning it and on top of that , to also want to give him a reward. It was out of the question that Mr. Persky could accept the gift and it would have to be returned. He then telephoned the Weller home but Randy nor his mother were at home but Mr. Persky left a message with an older brother of Randy to please come and pick up the gift card which he could not accept.

It wasn't long before a woman and a young boy, Mrs. Weller and her son, Randy, arrived at the Persky residence. After all the introductions were made, Mrs. Weller said that they wanted to thank Mr. Persky personally and wished that he would accept the gift card but Mr. Persky insisted that Randy keep it.

Mrs. Weller went on to explain that after Mr. Persky had called her, the police arrived at their home in response to her call to them that morning to report the theft of the bicycle and clarinet. When she told them that the clarinet was found by Mr. Persky, they said they would visit him and pick up the clarinet. When Mr. Persky heard hat Mrs. Weller had not been responsible for the police coming to his home, he was glad that he did not make the angry phone call to her and embarrass himself as a result.

After the Wellers left, Mr. Persky decided that, in spite of the aggravation of the police visit, the events of the day were quite satisfying after all. He had done something to make a young boy happy after being dismayed at the loss of his valuable musical instrument. Mr. Persky had received, in return, a letter from a grateful boy that he would keep as a reminder that there are still a lot of good kids and parents who teach them well.