In the end, when you think about it, Cinderella’s story was all about a shoe. But as Peggy Faulkner, a retired sheriff, discovered recently, there’s still plenty of magic to be found in a shoe, even if nowadays it appears in the form of a $5 yellow shoe organizer at an estate sale.
A Mysterious Message
Faulkner, whose police beat was Salt Lake County, readily admits that though she loved her job in law enforcement, there were times during her 27-year career when she came face-to-face with the many ways that folks treated one another with indifference or, even worse, out-and-out cruelty.
So, it’s understandable she might have been a bit skeptical when, the day after the sale, she saw a notification on the Nextdoor app that said, “Hey, I bought a couple of things from you, and when I cleaned out the shoe organizer, there was a plastic sleeve from the bank with money in it and a sealed envelope. I want to refund those to you. You can come and get them from me?”
The writer then gave her name as Heidi and an address close to where the sale was held.
“Maybe it’s a scam,” Faulkner’s husband cautioned after he read the note, clearly wanting his wife to think before rushing to meet this stranger.
Still, Faulkner’s law enforcement instincts kicked in, and she reasoned that Heidi probably wouldn’t have listed her address if something truly suspicious were afoot.
A Pleasant Surprise
And as it turns out, Faulkner’s faith was amply rewarded. Later that day, when she met Heidi face-to-face. Heidi immediately handed her the plastic sleeve and envelope. Moments later, a stupefied Faulkner counted the money and could hardly believe that it came to hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
“There’s $800 here!” Faulkner exclaimed excitedly. “Thank you. Amazingly, you would contact me!”
“You know, it’s karma,” said Heidi, reluctantly accepting the $200 reward that Faulkner pressed her into taking.
“That experience made my day,” Faulkner recalls.
Hope in Humanity
Her warm feeling stayed with her to such an extent that she decided it was time to post her story about the shoe organizer and Heidi “to show that there were still wonderful people out there.”
That simple post was quickly met with hundreds of likes and comments such as, “Restores my faith in human beings,” “A great lifter of the hope in humanity,” “We need more stories like that,” and “What an honest woman! You did right by her.” Several even said, “I love stories like this one.”
“There are still wonderful people out there,” says Faulkner. “Even though we don’t always run into them.”
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