Excellent Living A Life of the Chinese Cursed Isn't All Bad Leaves From an Interesting Life by RaymondJohn

Category:  Biographical Non-Fiction   Posted:  February 9, 2009      Views: 436

RAYMONDJOHN  IN PRINT   ABOUT RAYMONDJOHN  Raymond John is a hopeless FanStory addict who has at times spent as many as twelve hours in a single day reading, reviewing and writing for the site. His three purposes are based on three "Es" which are Explain, Enlighten and Entertain. His greatest fear is to take himself too seriously. He may not always smile, but he always has a twinkle in his eye. Knock his socks off with a fantastic write and he'll be your best cheerleader and give you a banner award, to boot. He has written two novels and numerous short works. His first book, The Cellini Masterpiece, has sold nearly 3,000 copies and received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 IPPY awards. It is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. An audio version (ISBN 9780615268125) is now available read by the renown actor, James Cada. MP3 edition, downloadable for IPOD, is 14.95. Order at www.raymondjohnbooks.com. His second mystery, Mix and Match Murder, which was originally scheduled for release in September of 2008 is now in print and available from Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and North Star Press. A scholar born in the golden age of radio, Raymond always appreciates hearing a well-told story, especially one with action and believable dialogue in a historical setting. I have written and received many reviews. I have a thick skin, so if constructive criticism is forthcoming, bring it on. He has won several contests. The contest submission Mousie, Kittie and Booger was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. Gold In Them Thar Words was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. Lot 386 was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. He is a top ranked author and is currently holding the #22 position. Portfolio | Become A Fan There's a wonderful scene in The Man Who Would Be King where the characters, seemingly doomed to freeze to death in a cave in the the Himalayas, break into riotous laughter. Though scoundrels, they decided that few men could have had exciting adventures. By wonderful irony, their laughter causes an avalanche that creates a bridge to their freedom. I don't expect this will happen in my case, except metaphorically perhaps, but I do expect I will have much to laugh about when the last page is written. One of the most interesting short chapters began many years ago with a drive home from my stamp shop. That in and of itself was unusual. I seldom drove because the bus literally ran from my doorstep to my shop. The only time I drove was when I had errands, and I needed to drop off some books at the library. Because of one-way streets, I wound up taking an unfamiliar route. On the way, I saw a man get out of his car to go into one of the buildings. I also noticed something fall out onto the street when he got out. I pulled over and retrieved it. It was his wallet. It also was bulging. My curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. The note holder was crammed to overflowing with banknotes. One hundred dollar bills and I'm certain there had to be close to a hundred of them. Mark Twain once observed that much that passes as morality is really nothing more than lack of opportunity. Here was real opportunity. I'm sure that you may be dubious, and rightfully so. I swear it is true. It's also true that it never occurred to me to keep the money. I brought it into the business, a printer as I recall. The man was nowhere to be found, but a young woman was sitting at a desk. "May I help you?" "The gentleman who just came in dropped this. Would you give it to him, please." She said she would and I left. I don't consider myself to be an especially virtuous person, and there are many things I regret in my life, but I didn't have anything to regret in this potentially life-changing event. It didn't even occur to me to keep the money. Second thoughts came later. Not about keeping the money, but some other aspects. I told a friend about what had happened. His first reaction was, "Are you nuts?" "Maybe." "The guy was probably involved in some kind of illegal activity. People don't carry that kind of cash around. He probably wasn't any more entitled to it than you were." "Maybe. But it still wouldn't make it right to have kept it." "What about the receptionist? You didn't even wait around to see if she gave it to the guy." For the first time I wondered if I had done the right thing. "That's true. I just assumed she would give it to him." "Yeah. She could be the one vacationing in Vegas instead of you." "That's her problem, I guess." Ron wasn't about to give up. "You know what you should have done? You should taken out the identification and brought it into the police. If he wasn't on the up and up, he might not show up to collect it. Then the money would have been yours." "That wouldn't have been right, either." Ron sighed and shook his head. "You're a heck of a lot more honest than I am. Congratulations." I'm sure he didn't mean it as a compliment. A few years later I went to Yokosuka, Japan, with my Navy Reserve Unit. One of my shipmates lost his wallet. It didn't have ten grand in it, but I'm sure he had at least one hundred dollars in it. One of the unit officers found out about it. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm sure you'll get it back." Sure enough, the next morning he got a phone call from the Naval Captain in charge of the exercise. The wallet was in the police station with contents secure. The Japanese feel that not returning it to its owner brings bad luck. It may well be. All I know is that I still tell my story to friends once in a while, and I still laugh about it. What would you have done? Recognized Share your own writing! - Information on our membership for writers. Author Notes Evil Eddy the editor must not believe me. It wouldn't let me choose non-fiction from the drop-down menu. LOL Pays one point and 2 member cents.

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