Practicing Feedback

After reading the following essay, answer the questions below it.

A Tribute To Honesty

by Lynn Holen

As I turned off the highway I could feel my body relax as it always does after the long drive from Spokane. Coyote Trail is a country road and unlike the highway, it's snowpacked and icy, but that didn't bother me, it just felt good to be nearly home.

My son Michael had been at my sisters' while I was in school all evening, and had fallen asleep in the back seat. As I approached the mailboxes, which are situated about three quarters of a mile from our house, I suddenly realized I had mail in my purse that needed to go out the next morning. With my arm outstretched I search the passenger side of the car seat, and a feeling of panic started to overcome me. I abruptly stopped the car. Thinking that perhaps I had put my purse in the trunk with the groceries I had bought earlier at Safeway. I jumped out and faintheartedly walked to the back of the car. I opened the trunk knowing that it wouldn't be there, but I had hoped to be wrong. The darkness of the night made it impossible to see into the trunk. Just then a truck was approaching and his headlights gave a luminous yet ominous view of the trunk, the purse was not there.

"Oh God!!" I said to myself. By that time Michael had awaken and was asking to watch "Lion King". My mind was swimming with fear for the worse with every second that passed.

I resumed driving down the road. As we approached our icy driveway and I braked to slow down, the car slid into the ten foot snow berm at the end of the drive. I back the car up, and thought to myself; "You're so rattled you can't even drive!" After the third attempt to get up the slight incline on the driveway, we were finally home. The feeling of relief I usually get after driving for an hour an a half; and arriving home safe, was not there. Instead a feeling of anguish, like I had lost a part of my life became the center of all my thoughts. I unbuckled Michael from his car seat all the while thinking, "I have to call the Safeway and see if someone found my purse."

Michael and I entered the house, and he started asking to watch "Lion King," along with a host of other favorite Disney movies he likes. The frustration of the loss of my purse, combined with his inconsequential requests; I was beginning to lose control of my senses. As I tried to keep my composure, I methodically flipped through the Spokane phone book, searching frantically for Safeway's phone number. At last I found it. I dialed nervously all the while praying that somebody had found my purse and returned it to the store. The phone rang for what would seemed like an eternity--when a voice answered, "Safeway, Dave speaking, can I help you?"

"Yes I said , I was shopping there awhile ago, and I think I left my purse in a cart out in the parking lot."

"What is your name?" was his reply. "It's Lynn Holen, do you have it?"

Then as if it was every day that I lost my purse; he calmly asked, "Is there a gentleman's name on the checkbook that is different from yours?"

"Yes, its Jesse Drew!" By now I was so elated at the prospect that someone found my purse and returned it, I couldn't speak.

He continued, "We tried to call you but Newport is long distance, and there is a special code we must have to make long distance phone calls."

"Then you have it?" I replied.

"Yes" he said, "a gentleman brought it in earlier from the parking lot."

The relief I felt could be compared to the relief you might feel if your house was robbed, and the police informed you they caught the thief, and all your belongings were safe. I started thanking him to the extent that I was probably getting annoying. He asked me when I would be picking it up, and I told him in the morning since it was so late, and I was in Newport. I expressed my appreciation again and we said goodbye.

I felt relieved, but at the same time I couldn't shake this awful feeling that maybe that gentleman took some of the contents." I had about $150.00 in one wallet, although it was hidden in a compartment, and all my medications. The letters, too, they were related to my financial assistance that I recieve. And then there's my drivers license, student identification, ATM card, and the list kept growing. I tried to stay positive, and surmised--"Well, at least some of my purse was intact, or they wouldn't have had my checkbook." I phoned my mom and told her of my plight. She reassured me that if the gentleman had returned the purse, he probably left the contents untouched. I felt somewhat better and decided to watch "The Lion King" with Michael. He fell asleep before it was over, so we went to bed.

My mom drove me to Spokane the next day because I was still pretty unnerved. The weather was awful and the roads were slick, which made the drive longer than usual. We pulled into Safeway's parking lot, and Mom let me out at the nearest entrance. Without reverance to the oncoming cars, I ran across the road. I entered the store and briskly walked over to the lady working at the customer service counter. After telling her about my "lost and found" purse, and the conversation the previous night with the man who worked there, named Dave; I asked how would I go about recovering my purse? She then walked to the little office in the back and brought out my familiar "sidearm". As she handed me the purse, another woman stuck her head out of the little office and asked; "How could you not see that purse? Its so big!"

"I don't know," I replied sheepishly. With that, I feverishly exited the store searching for the Jeep. Upon entering the vehicle I quickly inventoried the contents.

"Everything is here!" I exclaimed to my mom. "Well, you're lucky," she replied.

This incident has renewed my faith in humankind, and every time I think that the world has gone mad, and there aren't any honest, upright citizens, I'll just think of this mishap. I can't help but wonder who the gentleman was who returned my purse. I am indebted to him for more than just the recovery of my purse.