I walked into my dad’s office and told him what the old man said.  I thought, there’s no getting out of this, I might as well meet my maker.  My dad agreed to drive and we headed to Louisville.  The ride was less than 10 miles but it felt like a 1,000 mile journey.  We pulled up in front of an old building with a sign out front that said “Scrap and Junk.”  The only other thing that I remember was a brand new white Jaguar sitting out front.  Surely to goodness it didn’t belong to anyone who owned a scrap yard.

As we got out of the car and walked into the front door we were greeted by Mr. Bidder, sitting behind a huge desk covered with ledger books, papers and who knows what else.  He had a big cigar in his mouth and a huge grin on his face.  I walked up to his desk, taking everything I had to speak, and apologized for the way I had handled the situation. He looked at me and told me that it’s not a wise move to scream, yell and cuss at people, especially on the phone. 

As I stood in front of this man I was overcome with embarrassment, shame and frustration, all at the same time.  Swallowing my pride wasn’t easy but I found it in myself to take my licks and step up to the plate of manhood.

Mr. Bidder handed me a check, told me that he wasn’t going to worry about the stop payment fee and gave me his hand to shake.  I apologized again, shook his hand and thanked him for his understanding.  When I turned to walk out the door I noticed Mr. Bidder telling my dad that he should be proud of me, he said not many young men would do what I did.  As I was making my way out the door as fast as I could I saw dad walk over, shake hands with Mr. Bidder and thank him. 

When we got in the car all I could do was hold back the tears and reflect on what just happened.  Time stood still for  a minute.  The ride back to the office wasn’t nearly as long as the one there and it was a great deal easier to talk to my dad. 

Two weeks later my friend Bob Loeffler called and told me that his wife found the check laying on the floor in the bathroom from when I was at their house.  I have to believe that if Bob would have called me the day I lost the check I wouldn’t have learned the lesson.  

On the way over to make peace with Mr. Bidder I was a boy, on the way home I had made giant strides into becoming a man.