The Wandering Fiver

As a young boy of 14 I was very curious as to what would happen if I wrote "If you find this, call 0402******" on a $5 note. (This being my number of course) So I did. I was very optimistic in my approach as I thought I would be getting calls left right and centre, but for three years I got no response.

I went on with my daily life with the possibility of one day someone calling me from a far distant place in Australia and somehow they would be the coolest person I've talked to and I would get a really cool connection from it. A very very rare chance I must say.

Three years passed and slowly but surely, the fiver left my thoughts.

A normal Wednesday came about just like it did every week, and so did my nightly shower accompanied by the old Kings Of Leon albums. I checked my phone when I got out, and there was a weird voice mail message about a $5 note?

This could have been the defining moment in my short life. Someone had found my "message in a bottle" and taken the time out of their day to call me.

It was some drunken idiot at a TAB who was with lots of people in the background. I couldn't believe it when he said he was from Noosa because I live in Tweed Heads, on the coast just below the QLD border. This was an amazing day I must say. So unexpected.

The other amazing thing is (this is where the believability of the story starts to get questioned) is that I got a second call that same week.

This time it was someone in Sydney, yes Sydney. He was another drunken idiot and he was at the football "watching the Roosters get towelled up," and he said to me "I was kind of hoping you were a sexy lady."

The funny thing about these two phone calls is that they have both been from two very Aussie stereotypical characters, and they have both been in very Aussie situations. A TAB and drunk at the footy.

My Fiver. Where will it go next?

I'm nervous for all the scary things my Fiver has to face in Australia. Everyone, if you find it, take care of it.

I am still waiting for the day when it comes back to me, settles into the palm of someone famous. Will make the coolest story. Best story for Grandkids.

****************** Update 8/01/11***********************

Holy shit!

I just got a random phone call from some drunken bloke who wouldn't stop asking me 'where are you?'

He was in Sydney. Typically, the general consensus of people calling about this $5 note has stayed the same. Drunken idiots with their mates.

Also, the trend of miracles coming in twos is still about.

No later than five minutes after I got numerous phone calls from the 'where are you?' drunken idiot, I got another phone call. This time it was some sort of seductive young woman on the other end who said in a sexy voice 'I was just down the shops the other day and I saw your $5 note so I put your number in my phone and thought I'd give you a call later on tonight.' She also said that she lived around where I live, which shows that my elusive $5 note has followed the same route as my girlfriend, which is weird. Could it have been on the same flight to Sydney from the Gold Coast because she (Caf) went to Sydney the other day also and just came back today.

Come to think of it, I got a weird phone call the other day while I was at work from someone who called herself Jellybean and tried to remind me that I met her a couple of months and gave her my number and that her parents were hippies. Knowing exactly what type of person I am, I would have never given my number to some sort of hippie tripper whose name is Jellybean (or she could have seen my number and decided to fuck with me).

This whole $5 note thing is getting interesting. The first drunken idiot from today promised that he would pass it on to another shop.

Who will the $5 note hit next?

-------------------------------------------UPDATE 02/09/2013- Monday 1:29pm -----------------------------------

The Fiver has been out of action for a few years! Until today.

It has managed to get itself out of the pub scene and become a decent fiver.

A 13-year old boy from Richmond called me with the Fiver at school, saying he found it laughing. He was polite unlike the other calls I have received about it.