“My Lost Dollar” is a humorous and satirical short story written by Stephen Leacock, a Canadian author and humorist. The story revolves around a comical incident that occurs between the narrator and his friend, Smith, involving the loss of a dollar.

The story’s first-person narrator recalls an incident that occurred during a dinner celebration for a college reunion. Smith, the narrator’s old college friend, pays him a visit after a long absence.

Smith talks about his profitable business ventures and apparent wealth when they get together. The narrator is moved by Smith’s apparent financial success and feels compelled to brag about his own wealth. He acts wealthy and brags about his recent real estate investments.

The narrator pulls out a dollar bill and lights his cigarette at one point in their conversation. However, he unintentionally allows the dollar to flinch out of his grasp and drop into the fireplace, where it burns and disintegrates.

The loss of the dollar in such a careless way causes the narrator to panic and become flustered. He anticipates that Smith will express sympathy or offer some solace, but to his surprise, Smith starts laughing. The situation makes Smith laugh out loud, which irritates the narrator even more.

The narrator is still enraged by Smith’s laughter because he doesn’t understand why his friend finds losing a dollar amusing. The narrator understands that his attempt to impress Smith with his financial success was a mistake, and he now regrets his arrogant behaviour.

As the narrative comes to a close, the narrator acknowledges that he was never as wealthy as he had claimed to be and that the dollar he lost was, in fact, a sizeable sum of money in his eyes. He accepts that his attempt to impress his friend with material wealth was a mistake, and that he should not have done so.

The lighthearted and humorous story “My Lost Dollar” illustrates the foolishness of materialistic pretences and the absurdity of attempting to impress others with outward displays of wealth. Stephen Leacock parodies the human propensity to boast about material possessions as well as the dangers of pride and vanity through this amusing incident. The moral of the story is that true friendship and humility are more important than pursuing material wealth.