Garbage Collector Finds Torn Letter Telling a Man He Will Be a Father, Decides to Find the Man – Story of the Day

A garbage collector finds a torn letter in which a woman tells a man that he was about to become a father. Infuriated by what he saw, he decided to track the letter recipient to teach him a lesson on how to treat women and children appropriately.

Peter was a simple garbage collector. At 38, he had no other dreams in life that he wanted to achieve, as he enjoyed his job. Whenever people around him questioned why he enjoyed being a garbage collector, he would always say the same thing:

Peter worked as a garbage collector, and he loved his job. | Source: Pexels

For Peter, his children were his primary motivation for everything he did. He was cautious with children, both his own and others, as he was a genuinely kind and decent man.

Peter had a wife named Melissa and two kids named Amelia and Arman. They lived a simple yet happy life, with a couple of loans to pay off, but still content with what they had without asking for more.

One day, while Peter was on his shift collecting garbage around town, he came across something strange – a letter written in pastel pink paper that stood out from the rest of the trash. The letter was almost completely torn in half, and he curiously picked it up and decided to take it home.

Peter read the letter when he got home that day. | Source: Pexels

When he got home that day, he taped the letter back together and read the text. He realized it was from a woman named Alexa to a man named Gareth. The letter read:

"Dear Gareth,

I know you have already moved on and have since focused on your business since our breakup. The thing is, Gareth, I just found out that I'm three months pregnant, and I'm completely lost. I don't know what to do, and I wish I had you to guide me. After all, the child I am carrying is yours.

I know you probably never wanted to hear from me again, but this situation came as a surprise for me, too. I'm sorry that I'm bothering you about this, especially since I don't know whether or not you wanted to find out about the pregnancy, but I just thought you should know. Anna."

Peter accused Gareth of being an irresponsible father. | Source: Pexels

Deducing that Gareth had ripped the letter in two and threw it out after reading it, Peter was furious, believing no woman should ever be treated that way.

"I'll find him and teach him how to treat children and women," he said to himself, vowing to teach Gareth a lesson.

He flipped the paper around and saw Gareth's address written on it. He decided to drive there and give the man a piece of his mind.

A man opened the door, and Peter immediately asked if his name was Gareth. The man nodded his head. "Yes, I'm Gareth. How can I help you?" he asked Peter.

Gareth did not understand what Peter was talking about until he read the letter himself. | Source: Pexels

Without a second thought, Peter started condemning the man, raising the ripped and crumpled piece of paper. "How can you abandon a pregnant woman like that? Aren't you even a bit concerned about your unborn child?!" he asked, his voice raised.

Gareth looked puzzled and could not understand what was going on. "Wait, what? What pregnant woman and what unborn child? What on earth are you talking about?" he asked Peter.

Gareth took the paper from Peter's hands and immediately started reading. "It can't be," he said, tears filling his eyes. "This is the first time I'm seeing this letter."

That's when Peter realized he misunderstood the whole situation and had misjudged Gareth. "I'm sorry for my accusations, Gareth. It's just that when I saw the paper ripped in two, I assumed you had torn it apart after reading it," Peter admitted.

Anna planned to go on with the pregnancy without Gareth. | Source: Pexels

"I would never leave a woman with a child," Gareth told Peter. Then they both realized that Anna likely never sent the letter and threw it away.

The following day, Gareth visited Anna and told her that he found the letter through some strange miracle. "You shouldn't have hesitated to send it to me, Anna. I would have gone to you in a heartbeat," he assured her.

Anna was in tears, admitting that she was afraid Gareth would think she was only after his money. The truth was, she longed for his company and wanted them to start fresh.

"I would love to start a family with you, Anna. I'm glad that letter found its way to me. It was all thanks to a garbage collector who found it in the trash," Gareth shared.

Gareth told Anna she wanted to raise their child together. | Source: Pexels

Anna couldn't stop her tears from falling. It turned out she was planning to move to another state the following day, so if Peter had come any later, they would have missed each other.

Gareth and Anna were immensely grateful to Peter, as the course of their lives would have changed drastically without him. They decided to meet up with him for dinner, where they expressed their gratitude.

"Thank you, Peter. Without you, I might have never seen Anna ever again, and I would have never known that I had a child," Gareth said, getting emotional. "I owe you a lot and would love to have you work at my company should you need a high-paying job."

Gareth and Anna took Peter to dinner to thank him. | Source: Pexels

Peter smiled, but not because of the job offer Gareth had just presented. "I'm glad I was able to connect the two of you again. However, I must refuse the job offer. If I stop doing my job, my children, and yours, will live in a dirty world," he told them.

Thanks to Gareth, Peter was able to pay off his loans. This allowed him and his family to start anew, as they were finally able to save up money while having the freedom to spend on a few luxuries. With a bit of money to spare, Peter surprised his wife and kids with a vacation, something they had not done in a while.

What can we learn from this story?

• There is no need to hide the truth, especially when it involves an innocent child. Anna hesitated to tell Gareth about her pregnancy, even if it meant hiding an innocent child from their father. In the end, she realized she should not have kept the truth from Gareth, as she would have never known how he'd react in the first place.
• Every job is needed and essential. People look down on blue-collar jobs without realizing their importance in maintaining peace and order. Peter's job is admirable, and it's something he is ultimately proud of, as he should be.

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If you liked this story, you might like this one about a well-dressed girl who frequently dug into a restaurant's garbage only to be doing it for a reason other than being hungry.

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