Monday morning I vaguely remembered that I had a microbiology quiz, so I pulled myself off the comfy couch and headed to the garage to grab my backpack. Just as my hand touched the doorknob, it hit me. On Saturday I placed my backpack on Evander's car to get it out of the way, as we raced out the door to soccer games.
Immediately, I ran inside to text Evander: "Did you leave with my backpack?"
Evander: No...I put it on the top of your car.
A sick feeling rose in the pit of my stomach as I typed: Seriously, where is my backpack?
Evander: On the top of your car!
Not only could I not see the top of my car, but I knew the backpack wasn't there. I had already run several errands, so there was no way it could have hung on for the entire ride. A single tear ran down my face. I immediately pulled on my tennis shoes and shot out the door. I ran down the alley way looking for my possessions, but nothing. Next I jogged down the road in the direction that I had left the neighborhood and still nothing.
I instantly began to panic a bit. The Jansport generic-navy backpack... I could live without. The microbiology lab notebook and pages of notes...I could not. Then I began to think of the implications of my lost bag. Inside was my lab coat, goggles, rubber gloves, dissection kit, and a vast array of highlighters, pens, and pencils. I would not even be let in the door of lab without my lab coat, goggles, and gloves. After glancing at the time, 10:35 am, I developed a plan.
10:35: pack up kids and head to mall to replace lab coat
11:30: have kids fed and Bubba at front door for bus
11:40:head back out to replace remainder of supplies
1:00 : put Peach down for nap
3:30: replace lab manual and binder
5:00 : dinner
6:00: class
My plan was genious, but it didn't work that way. In fact, I went to the mall with all 3 kids, but I always forget just how long it takes to get things done. We wheeled in our garage at 11:25, providing enough time for Bubba to scarf down lunch before jumping on the bus. Peach couldn't last another minute, so I put her down for a nap. When she woke up, at 2:15, I hustled the girls back into the car to get goggles at Lowes and other supplies and backpack at Target. We turned the corner at 3:20, just as the bus was pulling up to the house. Everyone headed inside for a quick snack before I was going to heard them back into the car to replace the lab manual.
Just then, my cell phone rang. It was my lab partner, Stitch.
"Hey!" she says. "You got your backpack back, right?"
"WHAT?" I exclaimed. "How did you know about my backpack?"
"Well...the college called me earlier today to tell ME they had YOUR backpack!"
"Seriously?" I questioned.
"Yep...someone turned it in," she said.
I went on to tell her the backpack incident and how I had JUST replaced EVERYTHING.
After picking up my backpack, it was obvious that it had been runover a few times, but nothing was missing. As I went through the pockets, I found a piece of paper.
I began to get nervous as I unfolded it. What is this?
It was a letter from the good samaritan who found my backpack and delivered it to school. It said:
I found your backpack just south of Rolater and Coit. I apologize for going through your things, but I was trying to find the owner. My name is __________. My phone # is 555-5555 and my email is skdlfj@yahoo.com, if you would like to contact me.
SUPER CREEPY, but curiosity was eating me alive, so I sent an email. I basically thanked him for saving my poor backpack and returning it to the college. The End...or so I thought.
He replied to my email with a very long, interesting, and weird response. There were things like "one person can make a difference" and "it looked like a nice pack". I won't go into detail but I will say that I was definitely a little freaked out. Now I can say with certainty... THE END.
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