Friday, September 26, 2008

AWOL And Back Again

I can't tell you how many times my reading material disappears. Just POOF! it's gone. Most times, as with toys my girls have misplaced, my book or magazine will reappear soon enough. (Although the new magazine I bought three weeks ago and never once cracked the cover on is still MIA...)

Last evening I left the novel I'm currently reading, Time Lottery, sitting on the kitchen table. After baths and bedtime and the season premiere of The Office, I was ready to snatch it and find out what happens next.

Gone! Couldn't find it anywhere.

I searched high and low to no avail. I tried to think like a three-year-old, knowing my stinker of a daughter may well have hidden it somewhere. No luck in the kitchen cabinets or freezer. Didn't find it mixed with the clothes OR shoes in the laundry room, wedged beneath a booster seat, or placed upon a shelf. But it hadn't wandered away on its own, either.

Disappointed though I was, I picked up a non-fiction book I hadn't yet finished and read it instead...
It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that I found the missing book, when my oldest awoke with an aching ear. I'd turned the ceiling light on (in the room the girls share) so I could see well enough to administer ear drops. Success. And then, after I'd tucked bigwrites in and as I knelt to kiss littlewrites before leaving the room, there it was. My book. Tucked between the edge of her bed and the wall, half-hidden by the billowy curtain.

Have you lost or misplaced reading materials before? How and when did you find them?

6 comments:

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Note to self: when you have children and they can walk, put books on high shelves.

I'm glad you found it - that would drive me bonkers!

graceunderpressure said...

Borrowers... that's all I have to say! :D Obv- she wanted to read a big girl's book like Mommy. How sweet is that?

Rachel Burton said...

Ha! My yesterday Facebook status was "Rachel hates when she loses library books and has to buy them." I at least finished reading the book in question, but it was no fun owing the library all that money!

Joanne said...

Glad you found your book. It's going to be a rainy weekend here in New England. Wish I had a good book to curl up with, but I'm in one of those "no book" phases. So I guess I need to "find" a good reading book.

Janna Leadbetter said...

I was bonkers, Mel. My hubby got tired of hearing me complain about the lost book! :)

crazynance, that crossed my mind, too. I thought it pretty sweet. Once I had it back in my possession, anyway. ;)

Oh, bummer! I hope it turns up, Rachel, since you've paid for it. Then you can at least reread it sometime, and it won't be a total loss.

I've definitely been through those slumps, Joanne. Although now I have something like 12 paperbacks stacked up waiting for me. I love that! -- I'd like to recommend Jan Karon's Mitford books. There are 8 in the series, and she's an amazing writer with amazing characters.

Angie Ledbetter said...

Misplacing my current read drives me crazier than a betsy bug (BTW, what exactly is a betsy bug, or are they just pests from the imagination of southern folk, of which I'm one?).

Glad you found yours.