Needle in a Haystack

Earlier this year in the B L (Before Lockdown) era,
I was out on one of my shopping adventures and spotted sink plungers for sale in an ironmongers.
"Perfect Birthday present for my husband..." I announced to a rather surprised shop assistant
as I handed over the required £3.
He probably thought I was rather a cheapskate,
but I knew my husband would be pleased with such a gift.
To understand why you have to appreciate the KHT's fondness for bars of soap,
the tendency of our bathroom sink to get blocked
and our inability to remember where the sink plunger is
once a dreaded blockage has occurred...again!
I took the plunger home,
and squirrelled it away in the spare room ready to present the item carefully gift wrapped
on the appropriate day.

DH's birthday came and went and I forgot all about this particular present.
If you ask me now what he had for his birthday I have no idea.
Then, one day in May, I remembered the purchase.
"Did I ever give you the sink plunger I bought you for your birthday?" I enquired.
From the puzzled look on his face I deduced that the plunger was still hidden away
and was never wrapped, and proudly presented to him on his special day as I had intended.
"Oh rats! That means it is upstairs somewhere. 
Sooner or later it will turn up, but hopefully not before it is required!"

As lockdown progressed I realised that my iPad
would be useful as a second screen when zooming.
Then I realised that I had no idea where my Ipad was...
For years it had lived on the same shelf, conveniently close to a power point.
However the stack on the shelf had gradually got higher and higher,
until I got fed up, and took it all away.
Just one problem. I had no idea where I had put it.
I checked the drawers where craft items are stored,
the boxes, where craft papers (and other items) live
the filing cabinet,
the desk
the bookcases...
Nope, no sign.
After a couple of weeks I admitted that I had absolutely no idea where my iPad was,
working on the theory that when I lose things they often don't turn up until I have confessed to losing them....
"You can't possibly have lost it!" declared my husband bravely.
"I do hope I didn't pick it up with a load of paper and accidentally recycled it..."

Time passed.
"Have you found your iPad yet?" asked my husband.
"Not quite..." I replied, hoping to distract him from my failings.
I rechecked the desk,
craft stash,
boxes,
cabinets,
bookcases.
Nope no sign.
"It MUST be somewhere." declared my husband firmly.

Then the KHT got wind of the missing item,
and adopted its discovery as her personal crusade,
subjecting me to regular cross examinations.
"Have you found your iPad yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Think carefully. Where was the last place you saw it?"
"On the shelf."
The KHT departed to collect the iPad from the shelf but returned empty handed.
"It isn't there."
"No, I took it away, but I don't know where I put it."
"Just think!"

This went on for several days, with the KHT getting more frustrated by my ineptitude.
Convinced that if I could only remember where I last had it then we could find it.
"When I find it I will remember the events that led up to me putting it there. 
Until then I have not got a clue where it is!"

"Why don't you try this?" suggested the KHT,
showing me the 'locate my phone' option on her own mobile.
"It won't work. The battery will have gone flat ages ago."

Again the spare room was searched.
DH and the KHT joined in the blitz.
"The trouble is that when tidying up I could have just slipped the iPad into any small space in the bookcases."
"Yes, I have already looked..."
We searched in all the likely places
and all the unlikely ones.
Then DH found the sink plunger
"Ah yes! That was one of your birthday presents, 
but I forgot I had bought it!"

My thoughts returned to the missing item."There's only one place it could be..." I pondered,
thinking, could it still be in the handbag I took to America...?
"Where?" asked DH, clutching at straws,
but I just shook my head,
as the idea was too preposterous to contemplate.
That particular expedition was six months ago
and I knew that the gadget had been used since then.
We carried on searching.

plunger AND iPad

DH disappeared into our bedroom.
After a while he called me.
"Would you like an Ipad?"
"Have you found it?"
There was DH triumphantly holding my iPad aloft.
"Where was it? Don't tell me in the brown handbag?"
He nodded.
"What else have you got in here?"
" Don't ask...!"

The KHT reappeared.
"Guess what?"
"Have you found it?"
"Yes!" 
She beamed with delight, but I could tell that she was still thinking that we could have found it a lot earlier if I had done a proper job of remembering where I had last had the iPad

Later DH and I reflected on the adventures of my iPad.
"It hasn't been in there since January. 
I have used it since then. 
I just popped it in there at some point for safe keeping when tidying up and forgot..."

Meanwhile DH was celebrating his sucessful conclusion to the mystery of the missing iPad,
by roadtesting the sink plunger on the placemats...
Never a dull moment...