Unseen Passage for Class 4 - Passage 11

Peter Wiggins grew up in a poor family. He worked diligently at his day-time job as a teach assistant in a private kindergarten and put in three more hours at night as a part-time cashier at a supermarket. By the time Peter trudged home every day, it was often close to midnight.

Peter worked very hard in order to support his aged parents who had retired as restroom cleaners with little savings left after putting Peter and his sister through school. Peter was the sole breadwinner as his sister, Beth, was often in poor health.

One day, as Peter was walking home from ACE Supermarket where he worked, he stumbled upon a small brown packet on the pavement. The package was slightly torn so he picked it up to examine it more closely. To his shock, it contained fifty-dollar bills.

Peter knew it was not his to keep and that the owner might urgently need the money. Without hesitation, Peter walked briskly to the nearest police station and handed it over to Sergeant Roberts who was the police officer on duty for that night. Surprised to see someone hand in such a large amount of cash untouched, the police sergeant said that Peter was indeed a role model others could look up to.

"It's nothing really... I was doing what anyone would have done," Peter blushed as the sergeant proceeded to ask for his name and contact number so that the owner could personally thank him. The next day, Peter received a call. The owner of the lost money was none other than Peter's boss at the ACE Supermarket! He had found out about Peter from Sergeant Roberts and had decided to promote Peter to the position of manager with a handsome increase in salary. He had also decided to pay for Beth's medical treatment after Peter told him how much the extra money could help his parents and sister. Peter was overjoyed.