Bill Bonner is quiet, unassuming and practical to a fault, and he found himself at the centre of an unusual campaign this week -- one he still doesn't quite understand.
The tale began Sunday at one of the largest shopping malls in Atlantic Canada.
He forgot where he'd parked his jeep, then struck up a conversation with a stranger who offered to drive him around the parking lot to find it.
“I said, ‘listen, here's $20. Drive me to find my car.' He didn't want to take the $20, but he took it anyway," said Bonner. "Anyway, he found my car, and I took off, but I put my parcels in his car when I got in the car and left them in the car!”
That stranger was Danny Boudreau, and the Good Samaritan was mortified when he discovered the man had left his Christmas gifts in his car.
He and his wife, Darlene, posted the story online in hopes of finding Bonner, whose name they didn't know.
“It was incredible,” Boudreau said. “All the people on the internet and people just calling and trying to figure out who this mystery guy was."
Word got around and Bonner called the Boudreaus Tuesday morning.
“They're going to call me when they're in town -- bring the parcels in,” Bonner said.
His co-workers at a Dartmouth car dealership are pleased with the result.
Bonner, they say, would do anything for anyone -- something he proved again Tuesday morning.
“The lady that runs our canteen was sick this morning, so he went out and bought breakfast for all the parts guys in the parts department,” said Bill Malcolm, the parts manager at the dealership.
As for lessons learned from the now-solved Christmas mystery?
“Remember where you parked your car,” said Bonner. “That's probably the most important thing.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko.
