The Magically Appearing $5 Bill

Many moons ago, my fambly and I lived in Powder Springs, Georgia, and I worked at Hartsfield for Delta Air Lines.

Working for Delta was a wonderful thing on many levels. The pay stunk, and sometimes the work was back-breaking, and working outside regardless of weather I got sick a lot, but at the time, Delta was a great company, and there were thousands of wonderful people working there for Delta too.

There were a number of Christian friends there, and on many breaks we would have impromptu Bible studies.

I worked a 3:30pm to Midnight shift, and once or twice a month several of us would go to an all-night International House of Pancakes in Riverdale, Georgia, a few miles from the Atlanta airport.

As I mentioned, the pay at Delta wasn't very good, and for my family eating out, even a McDonald's value meal, was quite a luxury for us. The decision to go eat an after work breakfast was usually spur of the moment. We all had rotating days off, and on nights we were all working was when we would try to go and fellowship after work.

I have never been in the habit of carrying a lot of cash, and this was way before debit cards were common, so sometimes I would beg off because I didn't have any money.

My grandfathers and my father all were cash men. My maternal grandfather, Papaw Hinton, carried so much cash with him that even as a kid I lived in fear he would be robbed. But my nature was to keep all the money in the bank to use for bills and family outings.

Well, one night, all the guys were working, and my good friend Joe told me they were going to try to go to the pancake house after work. I told him I'd let him know later.

Then, when no one was looking I pulled out my wallet to take a look.

I'm not sure why, because I knew I didn’t even have a dollar with me. I KNEW that. I guess I hoped that maybe the money elves had worked some magic for me.

I opened my wallet and there was a five dollar bill in there. I was stunned. It truly felt like magic.

The next time I saw Joe, I told him that I would join them for pancakes after work, and did so.

I will NEVER forget the feeling of opening that empty wallet to find a single five dollar bill in there.

See, every now and then, when Lovely Wife would have to go out for whatever and had a little change left, she would put a few dollars in my wallet because she didn't like my habit of walking around with not one red cent in my possession.

When I called her from work and told her I was going to go out with some of the guys to eat after work, she mentioned having put $5 in my wallet that day.

I appreciated it as only someone who's been flat busted broke can understand.

And them buckwheat pancakes and fellowship were some kind of good too.