The Walkman Wrapped in Newspaper

“Elegant handwriting, you say? Only one person on this block wrote like that,” she said. “She moved out a year or two after that Christmas.” Clara revealed the name: Mrs. Elara Finch, a retired art teacher who had lived just above us.

Could it be her? It didn’t fit my mental image of a “local businessman,” but the handwriting detail was too precise to ignore. I called Mrs. Davies again, mentioning Mrs. Finch. She confirmed warmly: Elara had coordinated the donation as a liaison for her family member.

The Final Piece

I discovered that Mrs. Finch had passed away ten years earlier. Her obituary mentioned her nephew, Julian Finch, a successful entrepreneur behind a nationwide electronics chain. It clicked—the “local businessman” was Julian Finch, and his aunt had coordinated the Walkman donation.

I wrote Julian a heartfelt letter, including a photocopy of the handwritten note, simply to say thank you. Weeks later, I received a reply from him. The typewritten letter ended with a handwritten postscript in the same elegant script:

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