ACT ONE
I moved surreptitiously through our apartment, trying not to make it too obvious that I was looking for something. Very casual. Just rearranging some pillows on the couch, moving some magazines around. No big deal.
“You lost something, didn’t you?” Julee finally said in that ‘I know what’s going on here’ tone.
I stiffened. Then I confessed. I couldn’t find the TV remote. I hate losing stuff, especially when I know it’s probably right under my nose. And I hate admitting it because Julee gets so exasperated with my so-called absent-mindedness (though she’s as bad as I am when it comes to losing stuff).
In this case I had been blithely multi-tasking, switching channels while talking on the phone and checking texts.
“Take Millie out for a walk,” Julee said with a sigh. “I’ll look.”
When we returned a little later Julee greeted us, brandishing the remote like she wanted to hit me over the head with it.
“Where?”
“Bathroom.”
I hung my head, took the errant device and mumbled a thanks.
ACT TWO
Not a day later I came home from work to find Julee in an absolute frenzy, iPhone in hand. The apartment looked as if a cyclone had hit it. She couldn’t find her sunglasses. “I just got those glasses,” she cried. “The lenses cost a fortune! I’ve looked all over. Now I’m calling every place I went today.”
I poked around a bit. Took me about three minutes. I unearthed them from Millie’s box by the door where we keep her leash and clean-up bags. Julee had left them a heap.
“You found them!”
“Simple deduction. You walked Millie, came rushing in to do something and absent-mindedly dumped them in her box.”
“Thanks, Sherlock.”
Millie wagged her tail as if she had known all along and deserved a treat, which we all went to the kitchen to get.
“Funny, isn’t it?” mused Julee. “You can always find what I’ve lost and I can always find what you’re looking for.”
Funny too, I think, that nearly 30 years ago we managed to find each other. I wonder how that happened?
With Valentine’s right around the corner, tell me how you met your sweetheart.
