Cynical Boy Loses Out on Twenty Dollars, Free Ice Cream from Kind Stranger

Ten year-old Kyle Fitzgerald of Brea, California was the only one of his friends to miss out on twenty dollars and a bunch of free ice cream Saturday afternoon when his overly cynical nature caused him to misinterpret the generous overtures of a kindly stranger.

The group of boys were in a wooded area surrounding Edgewood Park when the middle-aged, trench coat-clad stranger generously offered them twenty dollars each to help find his dog, which had gotten loose from his yard earlier in the day.

"Me and Tyler (Hillenbrandt) were all, 'Cool, twenty bucks. Let's go!', but Kyle was all suspicious and stuff, saying he had a weird feeling about the guy, and said we should, 'Say no and go'," recounted Jesse Tuttle, referencing a slogan the boys learned from a "Safety First" video in school, "But I'm glad I didn't, because the guy was really cool and I got twenty bucks."

According to Tuttle and Hillenbrandt, they helped look around the park for the lost dog for less than ten minutes before their new friend suggested they join him in his van to search the neighborhood on their way to the ice cream store for hot fudge sundaes - an invitation they cheerfully accepted.

"We never found the man's dog, but we had an awesome time. On top of the money and ice cream, the guy had an Xbox 360 hooked up in the back of his van and let us play Halo 4 for like, an hour before driving us home," Hillenbrandt exulted, "That guy was so cool, I wish he was my dad."

Meanwhile, after alerting his parents of the nonexistent threat he encountered in the park, Fitzgerald spent the rest of the afternoon indoors helping his mother prepare invitations for his older sister's upcoming wedding.

"Kyle's an okay dude and all, but he needs to lighten up," Tuttle explained, assessing his friend's antisocial behavior, "Sometimes he can act like kind of a fag."