An 8-year-old boy from New Hampshire was out for a walk with his dad and their golven retriever when the two made a startling discovery: a bank deposit bag containing $1,450 in cash, and what the boy decided to do next impressed his proud dad, Yahoo! reports.
Guy Parenti and his son, Max, were amazed to find stacks of twenties, fifties, and hundreds in a tote bag left on the ground.
"This presented a teaching opportunity," Parenti, an independent sales agent, told Yahoo! Shine. "I think [Max] said, 'Are we going to keep it?' And I said, 'Keeping it is no different from taking it.' He's a great kid with a great heart, so he was all for it. He felt like one of the good guys."
As it turns out, the money they discovered belonged to Cheri Smith, a local who has owned the Puddlejumpers Children's Shop for 25 years. Smith was walking to her car late one night in August when unbeknowst to her, (as she told Yahoo! Shine, her "eyesight isn't what it used to be") she accidentally dropped her tote bag on the grass. Parenti and his son discovered it the next day, though they waited until they got home to count the money out before turning it in to the police station.
"I grew up in this town and raised my kids here, and it really is the place it is because of people like Max's parents, who used the opportunity to teach him, hey, we could put it in our pockets, but no, we all take care of each other," Cheri Smith told Yahoo! Shine. Smith left a thank-you note and a $100 reward for Parenti and his son at the station when she went to collect her lost money.
"The police made a really big deal out of it, congratulating him, which was great," Parenti said. "He was very proud of himself."
Smith admitted that she used the police officers as middlemen to deliver the Parentis their rewards, as she was "a little embarassed" by the whole incident.
"I'm a firm believer in karma," she said, "so I think Max has a lot of good things coming his way."
What does Max Parenti want to do with his $100 reward? According to his dad, his next main objective is to purchase some Pixi Stix.
Click here to see a photo of 8-year-old Max Parenti, returner of the lost cash.
