[img]1325|left|||no_popup[/img] Dateline Boston – H and I got a wedding present from a Japanese family. In Japan, money is a typical wedding present. We were happily surprised to receive a 10,000 yen bill, roughly equivalent to a hundred dollars. It came in a specially decorated envelope. I removed the decorations and put the plain white envelope in my backpack so that I’d remember to take it to the bank and deposit it.
A few days later, there was a torrential rainstorm. I went to my job as a nanny. When I got to Aurora’s house, I took everything out of my bag so that it would dry out. I laid everything out on the coffee table, and threw away used tissues and gum wrappers. At the end of the day, I put everything back.
A day or two after that, I was thinking about the bank. Then I remembered the yen. Where was that yen? Where was the envelope? I had a flash in my head as if it were from a movie—I saw my hand tossing a white envelope into the trash. Was that the envelope that had the yen? Where did I toss the envelope?
Our houseguest, Saya, whose parents had given us the gift, was with us. As soon as she went to take a shower, I told H the situation. I thought maybe I had tossed the envelope into our shredding basket. I went through it and shredded everything that wasn’t a white envelope. It wasn’t there. I texted my employers and asked them if they had thrown the trash away. They had, but could retrieve it. I asked if I could come over and go through their trash.
See-Through Glasses?
We had been scheduled to go out for awhile, so H, Saya and I went shopping. During our excursion, I got the text back that said I could sift through the trash to look for the yen. I said to H, “So, I’m going to Aurora’s house to get my…glasses. Remember I left them there?” I raised my eyebrows so H would get the hint at what I was really saying, since Saya was sitting right there. H had no idea what I was talking about. But he knew he was supposed to know, so he played along as best he could. “Okay, Honey, sure.” I told Saya I had to go to Aurora’s house, and that I’d meet them in fifteen minutes.
Walking to Aurora’s, I suddenly remembered that I had gone to the bank recently and had tossed something in the trash. Was it the envelope? Oh, no! The bank emptied their trash every day—it was too late! Well, better to check Aurora’s trash anyway, just in case. I kept seeing the image of my hand tossing an envelope. It played over and over, like a bad dream.
Is Trash the Answer?
I got to Aurora’s and met her Aunt Nunu. I extended my hand and said, “Nice to meet you. Excuse me while I dig through the trash.” I opened the trash and saw pieces of paper, wrappings, paper towels, and bits of food. No sign of the envelope. I took a deep breath and dug deeper. And there, around the middle of the bag, was the envelope. I took it out and opened it. There it was—the 10,000 yen bill. It had a grease stain on it, but it was intact. I must have thrown it out the day I emptied my rain-soaked backpack. I clasped my hands together and praised the Lord. Then I washed my hands, ick. It was a Christmas/New Year’s miracle.
A Yen in the Hand Is What?
I went back to Saya and H and told them the whole story. Saya looked amused. I couldn’t tell if she was secretly horrified. Would she tell her parents? Was that the ultimate sign of disrespect? Should I not have told the story? I think they would understand.
A couple of days later I deposited the yen into my bank account, a process that took over twenty minutes. I would have stayed there for much longer, just to be sure it was deposited. When the teller told me how much it was worth, minus the fee for foreign money, I was elated. I told him it could have been worth nothing, so what I got was a gift. A yen in the hand is worth a trip to the trash, that’s for sure.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
