Underbelly Archives

Yesterday, I walked out of a cafe in Queens at the same time a woman walked out of the neighboring 99¢ Store. As we both stepped on to the sidewalk we simultaneously spotted, there on the ground, a wad of cash, just sitting there on the sidewalk in a clump.

We both looked at each other, and then down at the money. I pointed to it and said, “Is that yours?” and she said, “No, it’s not mine”. A construction worker whose head was sticking up out of a nearby man hole was looking at us, and the woman and I both looked at him, and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “It’s not mine, either”.

The three of us just stood there looking at the money. No one moved to touch it.

Finally, I reached down and picked it up and handed it to the woman and motioned for her to just take it, and she waved it away, saying, “It’s not mine”.

I then held it out toward the construction worker and he just shook his head and went back to work. So I was standing there on the street holding a clump of bills.

For a moment, I wondered if I should just put them back down on the ground and walk away.

It’s funny how many out of towners think New Yorkers are pushy, hard edged, selfish and conniving, and that NYC is an everyman and woman for themselves kind of place. It just isn’t true. Sometimes, in New York, you can’t even give money away to the people on the street.