Today is the day to something something.
Lost and Found
Lost:
1. The pearl pendant my mom gave me that she received for her Confirmation
when she was a kid. I was in first grade and traded it to an older girl for
some plastic doodads to add to my charm necklace (I'm not sure if this was
one of the charms I received but I remember one of the charms on the necklace
being a tennis racquet with a ball.) I felt horrible about it until recently
when my Dad pointed out that my Mom shouldn't have given something so nice
to somebody so young.
2. The fancy rosary my parents brought to me from the Vatican when I was in
second grade or so. (Most kids had cheap plastic ones that they had bought
in class.) I think it was made of shiny white wood but now I don't remember
for sure. I don't know where I left it. Not in my bedroom, because I probably
would have found it since then, so maybe I left it at school.
3. The funny piece I wrote for my website about the troubled life of golfer
John Daly. I accidentally recorded over it and it's gone from my server and
not anywhere on my computer, other than a ghostly 'recent' file that doesn't
open. Maybe it wasn't that funny in retrospect and I just remember it as such.
4. The beautiful black-leather-with-white-stitching Coach gloves I got from
my parents for Christmas. They had cashmere lining and were sexy and spy-like.
This hurts because I was especially careful not to lose them and apparently
I did. This seems unfair as I usually think that things are lost only by the
careless (so I like to think that my roommate, who is actually quite careless,
stole them and lost them. So it's not my fault.)
Found:
1. A $100 bill on the floor in an airport. I was about 10 and very earnest
about fairness and morals. I picked it up and asked a man who walked by, "Is
this yours?" I thought I was being honest. My parents were happy I was
so thoughtful but exasperated that I would ask a random stranger if he had
dropped the money. My dad thought the man said "It's my lucky day"
as he walked away after accepting the money.
2. A Ouija board in my parents' house, apparently left behind by its previous
tenants. We didn't have the pointer for it so at a party a girl tried to use
a table from my doll house instead. It didn't work. My dad threw out the board
because he thought it was a tool of the devil. I've never used one so I can't
say so myself whether this is true or not.
3. A glass bottle encased in silver filigree meant to be worn on a necklace.
I found it in the women's locker room at the Northwestern University gym.
It contained perfumed oil and it was hung on a silk black cord. I reported
it to the lost and found but they let me take it home on the condition that
I return it if anyone asked for it. They never did. I wore it a lot in high
school.
4. A duckling left behind by his family at the Dempster Street Beach in Evanston.
I carried it halfway home in my hands, then worried that I would get in trouble
with my parents for doing so since they were never thrilled when I brought
home lost dogs. So I returned to the beach and put him back in the water,
praying his mother would come for him. I hope he was ok. The lake really choppy
that day. I don't want to think about it.
Lost and Found:
1. A pearl earring in my parents' back yard. I received these earrings for
my 13th birthday and I got my ears pierced with them. A few months later,
running through the yard, I ducked under the volleyball net and the earring
was pulled out. I looked around for it and couldn't find it and I told my
Mom. She looked sad and said "Oh well. I was hoping you'd wear those
when you get married." I felt so awful that I searched on my hands and
knees for an hour until I found it between some blades of grass. I'm wearing
them as I type this. Actually, now that I'm editing this piece and looking
back on the previous sentence, I wasn't.
2. My wallet. My friend Tracy and I were goofing around one night in high
school and found a big pile of leaves on a suburban street and jumped around
in it for a while. We went home. I drove to school the next day. At one point,
I realized that I was sans wallet, which was especially troubling since I
was driving around with no license. I couldn't wait until lunch to go look
for it in case the leaves got picked up, so I ditched Symphony to hie back
to Winnetka. Somehow I found the leaf pile, even though I didn't know the
name of the street we were on, and I went through it leaf by leaf until I
uncovered it. It was teal and had Kero Kero Keroppi in it. For some reason,
I believe I was thinking of Harold Ramis as I did this. Was there some scene
in "Ghostbusters" or something where he's digging through the trash?
Or maybe I'm thinking of the retainer scene in "Parenthood."
3. Mink hair bob. I received a black mink ponytail holder last Christmas (I
am just realizing how many nice things I get.) It is totally ridiculous, offensive
to people who don't like fur, and it resembles a mink's testicles, but I love
it nonetheless. My boyfriend and I were going out and I met him at his apartment.
We walked about 6 blocks up Belmont when I realized it wasn't in my hair anymore.
I pulled him back, looking all over the street and I found it on the wet sidewalk.
I put it in my purse for safekeeping.
4. My cell phone, two years ago. For some reason, my parents were already
mad at me, I forgot for what. Maybe I was late for dinner or something. But
when I got home, I realized that I was missing my cell phone. I called it
from their home phone but I didn't hear it. I searched through the house and
the car but to no avail, so it was time to trace my steps. I told my dad I
needed his cell phone and his car, which annoyed him further, but it was necessary
if my hunch was right. I went back to the Walgreens, where I had thrown away
a bag of wrappers. I called my number from my dad's phone and the Walgreens'
garbage can began to ring.