Aaron asked Ray if he had looked everywhere for Walt’s gift. Had he called up the wedding site to see if anything had been left behind? Ray said that he had looked everywhere and made a lot of calls that were fruitless.

Ray didn’t know what to do. If he sent Walt and Mary a thank you note for a gift they hadn’t given, they would be insulted. If he didn’t send them a thank you note for a gift they HAD given, they would be insulted.

“What would you do?” Ray asked. Aaron said he would call Walt up and tell him the problem.

“You can’t go wrong with simply being honest,” Aaron said.

“Oh, yes, you can,” Ray countered. “Sometimes it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.” But he thought about it, and finally decided that honesty might be the best policy. He called Walt and told him the problem. Walt said that yes, he had given an envelope. In fact, the envelope contained $500 cash.

“$500?!” Ray asked. “That’s a lot of cash, Walt!” Walt admitted that it was, but he had gotten a fat raise early that year and Ray’s was the only wedding he’d been to in quite a while. Ray thanked him very much, and apologized sincerely for someone stealing Walt’s generous gift. Walt told him that it was “only money.”

When Ray told Aaron about Walt’s gift, Aaron laughed. “The only thief at the wedding was Walt! I quit playing cards with him last year because I caught him cheating. And it was only a $10 pot! I’m sure I told you about that.”

“Yes, you did tell me,” Ray said. But, of course, he had to send Walt a thank you note anyway.