When Things Disappear

Woke up at 4 am with my sentences in my head and went to the kitchen to jot them down on a piece of paper. When I shut off the lights and turned to go back to bed, I heard the pen drop from the counter. Turned the lights on again to look for it on the floor and it was nowhere to be found within a ten-foot radius. Swept my hand under the stove and refrigerator. Nothing. It simply disappeared.

In Hawaii, our extended family of seven had to tie five of our suitcases on to the roof of the van to make them fit. Stopping for gas on a rushed dash to the airport, I noticed one was not there. This made no sense. We thought all five were connected with a rope strung through each, we were driving a straight road with no turns and we never heard a thing. So we backtracked to the house in the rainy night and looked on the side of the road. Nothing. Dashed back to the airport and assumed someone would report it to us eventually when they found it. Four weeks later—nothing. It was my daughter’s and it was filled with new clothes and shoes she had just bought with her Christmas bonus money. Bummer. 

So it appears that the world that we try to wrestle down to predictable, controllable and understandable things defies us, is still strange and mysterious. Keep your eye out for the suitcase and pen.

PS: Later swept a yardstick under the stove and the pen appeared. Still strange how it could have rolled so far, but there’s one mystery solved. Now about that suitcase…