A Short Story with a Happy Ending

Back in December, I had a day off work, and was enjoying the chance to go downtown and do some Christmas shopping. I parked at the library, where you make note of the number of your parking space, and then put your payment in the correspondingly numbered box. I put my money in, and set off to tackle my list.

I finished my Christmas shopping and, feeling quite satisfied, returned to my car. I was stunned to discover this on my windshield:

How could this be? I remembered carefully folding my bills so I could fit them into the payment box. As I pulled out of the lot, I glared at the yellow payment box, and then noticed something.

I saw the slot under number 9, where I had put my money.

I also saw the slot above number 9, where, I realized, I should have put my payment.

Oops.

I later called the parking folks, and talked to a very nice lady, who assured me I was not completely hopeless. She later called to say they had reconciled their books and confirmed that I had paid for my parking, and I could disregard that parking ticket.

Sometimes, even when we do dumb things, it works out in the end. ☺