I recall a story I read by a distant relative, a bit of a recounting she wrote when she was 10, in 1930 or so, stick-penned in loopy letters on foolscap. It was about a car that went missing from the person's garage, as indeed did mine.
The ending, however, was happy for the thief returned the vehicle, probably a Model A Ford, and he left a $2.00 bill, a denomination long since gone the way of the penny, and a note that thanked the owner for the loan and would he please accept the bill as payment for the gas used?
It was a delightful story, one with a moral and a thief with a conscience.
I fear that today's thieves are miscreants of a different sort.
