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 free ice cream Saturday after his overly cynical nature caused him to misinterpret the generous overtures of a kind stranger.

The boys were riding their bikes in a wooded area surrounding Edgewood Park when they were approached by the trench coat-clad man, who 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!', but Kyle was all, we should, 'Say no and go'," recounted Fitzergald's pal Jesse Tuttle, referencing a slogan the boys learned from a "Safety First" video in school. "I'm glad I didn't though, because the guy was really cool and I got twenty bucks."

According to Tuttle and Hillenbrandt, the pair helped look 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.

"It was great," Hillenbrandt exulted. "On top of the money and ice cream, the guy had an Xbox 360 in his van and let us play Halo 4 for an hour before driving us home."

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 be kind of a fag."