Cue the Happy Ending

Did anyone who heard that $203,000 in cash had fallen out of an armored truck Monday not envision himself standing there when the truck’s doors flew open? Did anyone not then spend a moment soul-searching about what he would do?

For a Brentwood movie producer, that kind of windfall might mean a cool new four-wheeled toy. For a Los Angeles dishwasher, it could mean a new life.

What makes the story of 22-year-old Ascension Franco Gonzales so inspiring is that he found that money, did that soul-searching and chose to be honest--even though dishonesty could have meant financial salvation not just for him but for the parents he left in Mexico when he crossed the border illegally in search of work.

Doing the right thing was a hard choice for Gonzales. But honesty is so engrained in his character that when he told his story to Times reporters Kenneth Reich and Hector Becerra, he included the part about wrestling with temptation.

He said he talked with friends and assessed the risks. He dreamed about the money and wondered “what should I do?”

Of course he already had the answer. “I was brought up in Hidalgo state in an honest Catholic family,” he said. Integrity was not relative.

The story of Ascension Franco Gonzales, who makes $1,300 a month as a dishwasher and says he sends $800 of it home to his parents, is one that moves from grim social realism to fairy tale. The armored car company had promised $25,000 for the return of the money. Gonzales says that if he indeed receives that reward he probably will use it to return to Hidalgo and build his parents the two-story cinder-block house he promised when he headed north.

No doubt, some Brentwood producer is already calculating how to make this honest everyman the subject of a TV movie. Perhaps Gonzales’ story will turn into a rags-to-riches tale after all.

The rest of us already have our heartwarming ending: someone to inspire us in those relatively mundane moments when we have to search our own souls.