Lost . . . and Found

I've been looking for something. Something that didn't belong to me. I had borrowed it, and then, when it came time to return it, I couldn't find it. I was sure I hadn't LOST lost it but had just misplaced it. But where? It wasn't too small, about the size of a video box. Actually, it was a video box--two to be exact. And they had been borrowed from the library. This week I was informed that the library was going to bill me about $75 for the "lost" videos, but I was assured that should they ever surface, I would receive a cheque for the aforementioned amount.

The prospect of paying $75 for something that wasn't LOST lost was not too appealing. So tonight, I took the inevitable step. I went through my office paper by paper, book by book, binder by binder. I sorted. I reorganized. I discarded.

The shelves grew neater as the recycling bin grew fuller. Some time around 10:30 p.m., I think I had forgotten that I was actually looking for something specific and I just starting revelling in the sparseness and bareness of the shelves. Yes, I could live like this!

By eleven o'clock, the elusive videos still hadn't surfaced. It's not as if I hadn't looked for them before. Not this thoroughly, of course, but I had made less diligent search more than once, both at home and at the office. I had picked up papers, shuffled them about, flipped books back and forth on the shelf, and opened all the filing cabinet drawers.

Maybe it was where I was standing this time that was the key to my success. (Yes, I did find what I was looking for!!) I opened the top filing cabinet drawer, but instead of standing directly in front of the cabinet as I usually do, I stood at the side, and standing there, I could see around behind the files at the front of the drawer to the relatively empty space behind the files. And voilà! There were the missing videos! It was all a matter of perspective!

So tomorrow, happily, I will return the videos to their proper home in the library, and hopefully, all will be forgiven.

I felt the elation of the woman who lost the coin and swept her house clean till she found it. And the shepherd who lost a lamb and scoured the countryside till he found it and returned rejoicing.

Now if I could only find that lost book on dinosaurs that I've already paid for at the public library!