Lost and Found

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Lost and Found**" is the twenty-seventh chapter of *Wayside School Is Falling Down*.

## Synopsis

Maurecia finds a bag of money in the bushes, and Joy wants to keep it to spend.

## Plot

This chapter opens with Joy and her best friend Maurecia sitting down on the grass to eat lunch, when Maurecia realizes she needs to grab some chocolate milk from Miss Mush. When Maurecia returns, she notices her lunch is missing. She tells Joy she had a lunch of a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and that she couldn't eat that without chocolate milk. Joy shrugs, and asks Maurecia for a sip of milk, though she has trouble talking with her mouth full of peanut butter and bananas. Maurecia lets her, as she heads to the bushes to look for her lunch. Joy asks Maurecia if she's having any luck, as she sips the last of Maurecia's milk, when Maurecia claims she has found the lunch. Joy chokes on the milk surprised, as Maurecia comes out holding a paper bag. However, inside the bag is not her lunch, but a lot of money!

Maurecia and Joy count the money, counting $20,605 inside. Joy says they should split it half and half, but Maurecia says they should take it to Louis instead. Joy considers several new modes of transport they could buy, but Maurecia says she's fine with taking the bus. Joy says that with that much money, Maurecia could buy all the ice cream she ever wants. Maurecia considers it for a second, but decides to show it to Louis instead. Joy proclaims Louis will think she robbed a bank, but Maurecia knows that Louis knows better. Joy warns Maurecia that the real robbers could come and murder her, but Maurecia says Louis will protect her. Louis is scolding Terrence for tying Leslie's pigtails to the tetherball pole when Maurecia walks up with the bag of money. She shows it to Louis, who at first claims it is "very nice," but then takes another look as he has Terrence go away. Louis asks if Maurecia robbed a bank, but Maurecia claims she found the money in the bushes and Louis believes her. To protect it, Louis takes it to the lost and found, though he says Maurecia can keep it if no one claims it after two weeks. As Louis walks inside, Joy tells him she lost a big bag of money lately and is wondering where it went. However, Louis is completely unaware that Leslie is screaming for help from the tetherball court, still tied to it by her pigtails.

A week later, Maurecia is eating a piece of sweet potato pie alone as Joy looks for more bags of money in the bushes. Louis walks up to her with an old man named Mr. Finch, who was the original owner of the bag of money. Mr. Finch states that he saved up his entire life savings making pencils, ranting about how much he hates pencils, but now that Maurecia has found it, he can open his own ice cream parlor. He was worried that he'd have to make pencils again, but thanks to Maurecia's kindness, is able to move on with his dreams. He decides to thank Maurecia by giving her $500, and as a reward, get free ice cream for the rest of her life at the ice cream parlor. Joy crawls out of the bushes, and asks who the man is, and Maurecia tells Joy about the reward she got. Joy tells Mr. Finch that Maurecia never would've found the money if it weren't for her. Louis asks what Joy did, and Joy admits that she stole Maurecia's lunch, but Mr. Finch just hands her a pencil.

## Characters

* Joy
* Maurecia
* Miss Mush (mentioned)
* Louis
* Terrence
* Leslie
* Mr. Finch (debut)

## Trivia

* This is the first and only appearance of Mr. Finch.
* While in "Joy," Miss Mush serves milk in glasses, here she serves it in a carton. Also, in that chapter, Joy felt guilty for stealing Dameon's lunch, but she doesn't here at all.
* At the time *Wayside School Is Falling Down* came out, $20,605 was worth $51,727.48 due to inflation. That's enough money to buy a skateboard, bicycle, or horse, but not a fancy car nor airplane. On the other hand, $500 was worth $1,255.22.
* In "Mark Miller", Benjamin Nushmutt was worried that Mrs. Jewls would think he'd be lying about his real name just to get the lunch that Louis brought in. Joy tries to do something quite similar to this.

## Gallery

Joel Schick illustrationAdam McCauley illustration
### Foreign editions

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Peter Allen second illustration (UK)Peter Allen third illustration (UK)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)Satoshi Kitamura second illustration (Japan)