Dennis Jones, Meadowridge
We are so surrounded by doom and gloom these days that I have to share my uplifting story with you!
My name is Dennis Jones (71 going on 17!) and I have just relocated from the Klein Karoo to Meadowridge.
On Tuesday April 6, I decided to acquaint myself with the Meadowridge Shopping Centre and while there I needed to use the public bathrooms.
On my way back to Checkers, I realised to my dismay that I had left my upmarket mobile phone in the cubicle I used and with a pounding heart, I raced back to the facility hoping against all hope that it would still be there atop the toilet roll holder.
My worst fears were realised and after asking every security official in sight, I resigned myself to the fact that it had been stolen as expected and then set about the unenviable task of cancelling the two SIM cards and three bank cards in the red protective phone cover.
The rest of the day, I accomplished this task at the Blue Route Mall.
Using an old standby phone I very briefly notified my two daughters by SMS that my phone had been stolen and I was no longer available “on-air”.
My eldest daughter, Gaby, got hold of me on my host’s landline later that evening and asked me if I had used the bathroom at the Meadowridge Shopping Centre and I replied in the affirmative but asked how did she know this?
She said she had phoned my number on the off-chance and a man had answered and told her that he had found it in the toilet cubicle; he was a trolley minder for Horison who were contracted to Checkers and that he intended handing it in on Thursday as he was off the Wednesday.
However, since he had found the owner of the phone, he was prepared to come in on his off day the next morning from Capricorn Park and meet me at 8am outside Checkers to return it to its rightful owner. Gaby requested him to do so.
He gave my daughter his full name and mobile number: Dennis Wiskess, a Malawian.
We debated the matter intensely on the phone and decided to trust the information provided by my namesake and proceed as arranged.
My entire life is on that phone and it was in the hands of a stranger… I slept fitfully and was up at the crack of dawn, praying for a miracle.
I arrived Wednesday morning just before 8am and there, sitting on a bench with a red covered mobile phone, was this young man.
I smiled as I approached him and he got up and willingly handed me my phone without a trace of expectation.
He was so humble and unassuming and my faith in humanity had been restored.
I gave him the biggest hug ever and asked him if he was prepared to have a photo taken with me as I wanted to applaud and praise him for his honesty and integrity on Facebook and hopefully the media. He assented immediately.
I presented him with his taxi money and a further handsome monetary reward and he walked off beaming and delighted. Bless him.
Truly a happy ending and a story to warm the cockles of the heart.
