Morning all, I have to say, that day off yesterday was exactly what I needed. I know there is time off around the holidays but it always feels like time off running around to get things done rather than actual time off. Yesterday there was just time off. It was nice. But now, normality resumes. So timers at the ready and off we go.
I will be thinking about what is stealing things from the house and why for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, January 16th: One of my socks was missing.
One of my socks was missing. Normally this would not be cause for alarm. Socks went missing all the time. I had lost a legion of them during my life time. And if these were better socks than usual then it was more of an annoyance but not cause for general alarm. The thing was, that these were cashmere socks.
They were a Christmas gift of sorts. At least they had been in the rest and relaxation basket that was sent to me at Christmas time from a company I worked with heavily over the course of the year. I wasn’t entirely certain if it was a Christmas present, a thank you gift or a ‘please don’t forget about us now that you are leaving and still be willing to take any emergency calls we send your way’ gift.
There was the possibility it was all three rolled into one. She hadn’t found a polite way to ask.
Several of the items in the basket were eucalyptus scented which wasn’t her favorite and she quickly passed those items on to friends. The cashmere socks she kept and fell in love with. She even followed the instructions to wash on cold and let air dry them wishing to preserve them longer.
Which was part of her current dilemma.
Usually when her socks disappeared the dryer was the culprit for missing socks. The socks had never been introduced to the dryer. In her mind flashed a momentary image of her dryer leaving the laundry room and wandering the house in search of socks to eat when she was not home. It was an oddly menacing thought and she shook it away.
‘It could have just been misplaced,’ she told herself. That was very plausible. After all things were misplaced all the time. Recently many things seemed to be misplaced. Small items would disappear and not be found. Most of them she expected would turn up at some point but as of yet, there were no sightings. They were small, insignificant items. A box of safety pins. A pencil sharpener. A lip balm, her sunglasses.
None of the items were very expensive and certainly not something that would be sellable. They were just everyday items. ‘The sock is the most expensive,’ she thought as she knelt down and looked under the bed to see if it rolled underneath. ‘And even that has less value as only one went missing.’
The sock wasn’t under the bed. She stood up and dusted off her knees even though there was no dust clinging to them. It was a habit she picked up long ago. When you were on the floor you dusted yourself off when you stood. The floorboards of the house she grew up in almost always had some dusty spots no mater how well kept it was. Here there was a beige wall to wall carpet in most of the rooms, tiles for the kitchen and bathroom. The industrial carpet she vacuumed and then overlayed with more colorful throw rugs.
‘No dust.’
She shook her head and went to the night stand. She took out a notebook from the drawer and picked up a pen. She flipped to the list and added the sock to the bottom of the list. She hoped that by seeing all the items listed she would make some sort of sense of the missing and figure out what was happening.
Ten til Midnight 