Lost and found

So I found this motorbike on the beach. I was just walking the dog like always and there were these containers all washed up and open. A few people had found bikes and all sorts of other things. Anyway it was just lying there, didn't belong to anyone. Lost over board from that wrecked container ship. Finders keepers, I say. Why should the salvage people get it? It's no more their's than it is mine, so I'm salvaging it. That's what I'm doing. My bit for the environment, clearing away a bit of wreckage and waste.

It's hardly been touched by the salt, good as new really. I've put it in the shed. They're saying it's looting on the news but I don't see it like that. It's not stealing is it? I'm not a thief. Who am I stealing from? Big Business? I mean everyone's insured. Who's lost anything?

The papers are calling us scavengers but everybody was down there carting things away so I thought: who's the mug? What am I worrying about? Some of them were posh people. One woman was stuffing washed-up bits of make-up in to her handbag. She said she didn't wear it, but will now. It's funny how the chance of something for nothing changes us.

They say I have to fill in a form to tell the Receiver of Wreck about my find. That will make me a registered salvor eligible for a reward. The bikes sell for £12,000 so it should be good for a few bob. I could do that, or I could just keep quiet. But I don't ride a bike so I'd have to sell it. I could stick it on Ebay but the police will be on to that. Maybe there'll be someone interested down the pub. There's going to be some good car boot sales in Devon this weekend but it's a bit big for that.

I mean I'm not a criminal, I just found it like those Scottish islanders did when they stashed away cases of whisky in that film Whisky Galore. Everyone laughed at that because it's human nature. Why shouldn't they get the whisky? They had hard lives. Well my life isn't what you'd call hard but it's not every day you see a gift horse like this.

It's a nice bike. Maybe I'll just leave it there and not tell anyone. Keep it in the family. In a hundred years it would be a classic and really worth something. And who would care about any of this then? It's all a bit of a worry. I'm beginning to wish that storm hadn't happened. After all, I was only walking the dog.