Alex sighed. He felt very depressed as he started to clear away the microphones and cushions that Leona had left out. He went to the canteen for some food and then went back to the dormitory.
Lying in bed, he couldn't help but think about Ian saying that they couldn't find sponsors for the new year's party.
He thought about the money that Flora had given him, which could not be saved in the bank. He knew that if he put it in the bank, his family would find out that she had given it to him, but he also knew that he couldn't spend euros in D.C. Although he had a huge amount of money, it was almost useless to him.
He wondered if the university could take care of it. If he went to the offices with the cash, maybe he could give it to them as payment for his accommodation and other expenses. That made more sense to him than just letting the money sit in his room collecting dust.
He decided to suggest this to the school as soon as he could.
**
After class the next morning, he returned to the dormitory and took the garbage bag containing the money out of his suitcase. He tried to put it into his backpack, but it was too large to fit.
One of his roommates saw what he was doing and said, "Alex, you idiot, you've packed your bag of trash into your case. Give it here, I'll chuck it out for you."
"No, thanks, I'll take it. I'm off now, see you later." Alex was satisfied that if anyone else saw it they would also assume that the bag just contained trash.
Carrying the garbage bag, he went straight to the administration building, which is where the finance department was based.
He knocked on the door of the finance department and, after hearing someone call, "Please come in," he walked in carrying the bag.
There was a row of desks in the office and seated behind them, were four members of staff. On the desk of a middle-aged man, there was a sign saying, "Mr. Parker, Finance Director." Seated opposite him, were Colin and Ian.
"What are you doing here?" Colin asked Alex curiously.
The previous day, Colin had spoken with his father about the possibility of sponsoring the new year's party. As a businessman, his father wanted to know more. He asked his son to find out how much money the school needed and what it was to be spent on. Then he would assess their proposal and decide whether he wanted to be involved.
"Well, I came here to—" Alex started to say, then he hesitated. He was surprised to bump into them there. He subconsciously hid the garbage bag behind him.
He thought, "Colin's family is very important in D.C., and they probably know a lot of people. If he sees me carrying around a big bag of foreign cash, he might start checking into my background."
He worried that if rumors started making their way around, Ken would hear about the money and tell the rest of the family, creating problems for his mother.
"You came to the finance department with your garbage? That's nice!" Ian said as he pointed to the garbage bag behind Alex.
When he pointed it out, everyone else turned and looked at the garbage bag. Several staff members complained.
One said, "Yes, it's very unhygienic to bring a bag of garbage into the office."
Another agreed, "This is the school finance department. It's extremely inconsiderate to bring garbage bags in here."
"I'm so sorry," Alex said.
"Of course, you're sorry," Ian sneered. He looked Alex up and down and said to Colin, "I think this boy came to the finance department to apply for the school poverty fund. You can see how cheaply he dresses. And I heard that he worked on a pancake stand for two months during the summer vacation. His family must be pretty poor."
Colin sneered at Alex and replied, "Huh, most people who need some extra money find a part-time job in the school library or the canteen. He must be really lazy just to apply for the poverty fund instead of finding work."
The finance director overheard their conversation and said to Alex, "If you want to apply for the poverty-relief fund, first you need to fill in an application form and then hand it to the class committee. The finance department will inform you in a few days whether your application has been accepted."
Alex realized he couldn't explain himself to the director while Colin was there. So, he nodded to him and walked to the door. After he had closed the door, he heard Mr. Parker murmuring, "That student really should have looked up the process if he wanted to apply for the poverty fund, but he was too lazy to look. He decided just to come here instead."
Alex did not go far. He just stood in the corridor and gazed at the scenery out of the window. Forty minutes later, the door of the office opened, and Colin and Ian walked out smiling.
"Haven't you gone yet?" Colin said when he saw Alex. Then he turned to Mr. Parker and said, "I'll go and discuss the sponsorship proposal with my father, and I'll give you an answer as soon as I can. I'll leave you to deal with the problem of poor students."
Colin and Ian left, shooting disdainful glances back at Alex as they made their way out.
Mr. Parker said to Alex, "Why are you waiting here? Didn't I make it clear to you just now that if you want to apply for the poverty-relief fund, first you have to write an application form and submit it to the class committee? The finance department will not accept the application directly. Off you go." He waved his hand and turned to walk back into the office.
Alex followed him silently. "Now what are you doing?" Mr. Parker complained.
Alex knew that his clothes looked cheap and he was not surprised that the finance director misunderstood him. "I'm not applying for the poverty allowance. My name is Alex, and I'm here to sponsor the new year's party," he explained.
When they heard what Alex said, the director and several staff members in the office laughed. Colin had just told them that he was a poor loser from the Biology Department.
"Listen, to sponsor the new year's party costs at least a thousand dollars. It's very generous of you but I'm afraid you can't afford it," Mr. Parker said with a smile.
"You misunderstand me. I have a lot of money to donate but please can we discuss it in private?" Alex thought that the fewer people that knew about his donation, the better.
"Hey, who are you? Why can't we stay?" asked one of the staff members.
Another said, "Yes, we want to know how much money you're going to donate. We want to stay and see what happens."
"If you want to donate, why should it be a secret? That's ridiculous," said another. They were annoyed with Alex for asking them to leave the office.
Mr. Parker said, "I think you'd better leave. I know from Colin that you are from a poor family. You should keep your few hundred dollars to buy yourself some better clothes."
Alex sighed and put the garbage bag on the table in front of him.
When he saw the garbage bag on his desk, Mr. Parker cried out, "What are you doing? Get that dirty bag off my desk at once—" But when his hand touched the bag, his cry suddenly stopped. He could feel that there was a stack of money inside it, and he was stunned. He looked at Alex in shock, only to see Alex smiling back at him.
"Okay, everyone. Please leave the office," he said to the other staff. They all left reluctantly.
When everyone else had left, he asked Alex, "What do you have in the bag?"
Alex sat down calmly on the chair. He put the garbage bag on the table and slowly untied it. The finance watched him carefully, looking him up and down. He noticed that Alex was dressed very cheaply, yet he couldn't deny that there was a substantial amount of crisp bills in the bag. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation.
Alex untied the garbage bag and slowly revealed the money inside.
Mr. Parker suddenly cried out, "Is this a joke?"
"What? No, this is all euros. Please have a good look," Alex said in surprise.
"Euros?" The finance director looked carefully at the banknotes, and he burst into helpless laughter. The situation kept becoming more and more strange. He had expected the bag to be full of dollar bills, but now he could see that Alex had actually brought him euros.
When he saw how much money was there, his attitude toward Alex changed dramatically. "I'm sorry that I was so rude. You've brought so much money here."
"I want to donate the money to the school to sponsor the new year party," Alex replied.
He replied, "There's way too much money here for the party. We only need a fraction of what you have here."
Alex thought for a moment and said, "No problem. The rest of the money can be used for other school expenses."
Mr. Parker said in surprise, "You really want to donate all this money to the school? That's so generous. Thank you very much. I will report your generosity to the university president, and he will award you a university honor."
Alex then explained, "I only have one request. It is that the school covers all my future expenses. In addition, I don't want anyone else to know about my donation."
Mr. Parker thought back to the conversation he had just had with Colin. He knew Colin's family was one of the twenty wealthiest families in D.C. Yet when he had told him how much money it would take to sponsor the party, he had immediately backed off and said he would need to consult with his family. In the grand scheme of things, it really wasn't so much money, and Mr. Parker thought it was a bit ungenerous of Colin to make such a big deal about it. But Alex had offered the money and didn't even want to be given credit publicly. Mr. Parker was much more impressed with Alex's generosity in comparison to the Pattersons'.
"Okay, that's fine," the finance director replied suspiciously.
"Okay, then that's settled. I'll leave you to get on with your work." Alex handed the bag of money to him, and then stood up and walked out of the office.
The other staff members walked back into the office and looked at the finance director. One asked, "Mr. Parker, why did you do what that boy asked? Did he donate any money?"
He replied sternly, "Keep your mouth shut. If I catch anyone being rude about that boy again, they will no longer have a job here."
He could see that the other staff members were still unconvinced, and he sighed to himself. He thought, "None of you have any idea how generous that boy was, but I can't tell you. He's offered so much money to the school and you look down at him."
**
Two hours later, the finance director received a call from Colin's father.
He said, "Hello, is that the Finance Department of Richmond University? This is Mr. Patterson, Colin's father. I would like to sponsor your new year's party."
The finance director replied, "Hello, Mr. Patterson. Thank you for your generosity, but I have to let you know that the new year party has already been sponsored. We have other projects at the school that you're welcome to sponsor." He thought of the contrast between Colin and Alex and couldn't help sneering.
"What, it's already sponsored? Forget it, I'll sponsor it next year," Mr. Patterson said and ended the call.
The director was taken aback. He murmured to himself, "That man is the boss of a multi-national business and he can't even donate a few thousand dollars to his son's university. He couldn't be more different from Alex."