'Tis the Season

As a native East Coaster, I should know by now that when spending any amount of time, at any location on the east, during the winter months, it is only common sense to wear plenty of layers of warm clothing. To think that one could simply bypass this unwritten law by only remaining indoors is just plain silly.
Luckily for me, the above idea was not one that I thought. Rather, in my case, I was just not thinking straight. For on my departure from Santa Cruz, CA, on the night of December 20, 2009, I forgot to bring my winter coat with me. As I had been so used to wearing nothing more than a hooded sweatshirt during my outings around town, basking in the so-called "Mediterranean climate" of my seaside town, the thought of bringing my winter coat simply slipped my mind.
This unfortunate circumstance of traveling to the frigid state of Massachusetts during winter brought forth feelings of doom and gloom. Would I freeze to death? Perhaps not, that might be considered a stretch. But whatever the case, I knew I would be a cold, cold person.
I managed to avoid the stormy weather that fell upon Massachusetts merely days before my arrival. The first morning of waking up in Massachusetts, I was greeted with clear skies and sunshine. I was able to get by without a winter coat for some time at least.
Later that first day, I went on an outing with my father: to go run errands. Luck was on my side that day, for on our excursion, we happened to be passing by a thrift store named "Savers". In the nick of time, I was able to persuade my dad to pull into the parking lot and allow me some time to enter this store, "Savers", in order to purchase a used winter coat--one I could keep at my home location of Massachusetts for future cold seasons.
I entered the store, with a quick stride made my way over to the coat aisle. I began flipping through the jackets, looking for one with optimal insulation, a proper fit, and stylish looks. My father was assisting me in finding the right jacket.
We felt we were nearing the end of our search, with no results, until out of the blue I found the perfect jacket, hidden between a couple of extra-large jackets. It was sporty in style, black in color, well insulated, and a good fit (size Medium). It was one of the few jackets there with minimal details: no belts or buckles, no flashy neon shapes, just a straightforward coat; it just happened to have the name "Dave" embroidered on the left sleeve in yellow thread.
I was accepting of this name on the sleeve, for if this was the only little detail on the jacket that otherwise made it very simple, I would wear the name proudly.
At a price of $4.99, I considered this jacket to be quite the steal.
Leaving the store, I put the coat on, and was instantly gratified with its warmth and comfort. I climbed into my dad's truck and we left the parking lot, headed home.
On the drive home, my dad and I exchanged many jokes, some of which were based on this new coat of mine. Suddenly, my dad reminded himself that my mom had asked for a bottle of wine. We took a slight detour on our return trip home, and headed for the liquor store. Having missed drinking east coast beers for quite some time, I decided I too would get something at the store. We pulled into the parking lot of Jason's Variety Store in Acushnet and entered the store. My dad walked over to the wine section and I to the beer coolers (which were pretty small and limited in terms of "local beers", for the record) and picked out a 6-pack of Samuel Adams Winter Ale. I began walking back towards the check out counter, and out of habit placed my hand in the coat's left front pocket. My hand was instantly greeted with the feeling of crumpled paper. I was a bit startled at first, but curiously kept my hand in and grasped the crumpled paper, then slowly and cautiously removing my hand and the paper together.
Inside my closed fingers was a wad of cash: two one-dollar bills.

I would now like to take this time to sincerely thank Dave, whomever you may be, for this gift of $2.00. For your kind donation, and light-hearted, thoughtful placement of the money brought not only a few hedons of pleasure, but also lowered the price of that old jacket of yours to $2.99, excluding tax. I will wear your name proudly.