Obviously a hypothetical with a longish storytelling OP. Less obviously, the sequel to this thread. People who don’t like these but feel compelled to read them and bitch are reminded that the Superbowl is in next week, and while I have zero interest in football, I don’t go into the Game Room to bitch about all the attention THAT gets. Anywho…
Let’s see you have a well-to-do friend who owns a luxuriously appointed cabin in the woods and has offered you the use of it for a couple of weeks so you and your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/fuckbuddy/commercially motivated companion can canoodle. On your first night there it snows, amd what was forecast to be two inches of accumulation turns into three feet, leaving you nicely trapped. Your friend keeps the cabin stocked with food & drink, firewood, a generator, fuel for same, satellite, and plenty of books; there’s enough of everything to let ya’ll ride out the entire winter if necessary. The only thing you’re lacking is phone service. You’re at the beginning of a two-week paid vacation anyway, so at most you’re mildly inconvenienced.
But you’re not destined to be alone. A week later, after it’s begun to thaw, you and your honey are strolling through the woods when you come across a snowmobiler who has crashed his vehicle and been badly injured; he appears to have been there for hours, if not days, and is close to death. Y’all get him back to the cabin, do what’s immediately necessary to save his life, and decide to brave the roads and get him to the nearest hospital. The trip goes without incident, the ER doctors save the snowmobiler’s life; they say that ya’ll did the exact right thing in not waiting for help.
Before you and the honey can leave, the snowmobiler’s two parents’ arrive. It turns out that they’re both famous and wealthy, with a net worth in the net worth in the billions. The mother is overwhelmed with gratitude, and within seconds of meeting you, insists that you’re due a monetary reward. The father is cooler. Out of the mother’s earshot, he says that he’s willing to pay you for what you’ve done, but he doesn’t intend to be held up; additionally, he wants to get it handled now, with a minimum of publicity. He tells you to name your price. Not once has he said thank you or asked if you were injured or inconvenienced by what happened.
Basically, all you’ve expended is time and gasoline (and you would have had to make the drive into town at the end of your vacation anyway. What food and medical supplies you used on the injured kid were kid were in the cabin–i.e., paid for by your generous friend, not by you.
How big a reward do you ask for?