Queer as a Three-Dollar Bill, by Ray S

Possibly this has happened to you at some time. You go to the storage room in search of some sort of old legal paper stored for safety because you couldn’t tell when you might need it.

The other day this became my mission. So I was buried in a collection of storage boxes and file boxes searching for a copy of a paid mortgage.

Of course, I became completely diverted by a box of old photographs: portraits and snapshots. At the bottom of this box I found a thin blue book titled “Our Baby” complete with faded pictures and notes.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I settled down to read the writer’s detailed description of the baby’s arrival, weight (7 lbs.), length (21”), etc, as well as the mother’s pleasure about the food and rest she’d gotten in the hospital. Then there was the list of gifts and their donors, and a ribbon-tied bundle of letters and cards.

At this point I decided the latter was too much a tackle and put it back into its niche. At this point I saw a yellow envelope that had been hidden by those cards and letters.

The printed name on the envelope read “Western Union Telegraph” and was addressed to Mr. J. W. Wulf, Cleveland, Ohio. It was a copy for the sender’s file. Of course, I had to read the enclosed telegram.

The message stated:

Ray Wulf arrived 11:35 AM

Oct 19, 1926, Berwyn Hospital

Berwyn, Illinois

Baby and mother doing fine.

Signed Homer E. Sylvester

It was the everlasting three dollar bill, where or from whom it came from, but it has lasted for 90 years.

© 14 March 2016 

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