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the lost briefcase
I usually
dream I am looking for luggage or a pocketbook. But this morning I wake
up in the middle of this rich dream in which I am lost but haven't lost
any stuff. At one point in the dream we are in a grandstand. A plump woman
stuffed into a skimpy outfit in a pleasing, if cartoonish way rides a
unicycle down stairs. Really.
There
is another set of stands perpendicular to ours, as if they are on four
sides of a playing field. Band members are falling off the edge of it,
instruments flying. It looks like a long fall but they seem not to be
hurt, only the instruments.
Then
we are in some city like New York. On waking, I realize that there are
some cityscapes in my dreams that don't exist elsewhere. But that reappear
in my dreams. This dream seemed to contain new streets in my dream city.
FFP
and I and another man are trying to find some place. Finally we park the
car and walk. We find the place and the other two go in without me. FFP
comes back without our companion and we have to find the car. We wander
through buildings and corridors. At one point there is a room. It says
'laundry room' but it is a mostly empty, dirty square room with a bare
light bulb. There is someone in it, though.
We
excuse ourselves and wander some more. We come on a fine dining restaurant
kind of wedged into a wide corridor. We don't really intend to eat. Just
find our car. But we stop. There is a glass door and behind it people
trying to get in as if to enter the restaurant. The host says we can dine
because people with reservations haven't shown up. We point out that people
are gesticulating behind the glass door.
There
might have been more. I'm surprised I remember so much. I think if I speak
of something else before I go over a dream in my head, that I lose it.
I have felt a dream almost fly out of my head when speaking to FFP of
coffee or the appointments of the evening.
I make
coffee and shower and dress. I read a bit of the USA Today. Medical Journal
disputing research about the benefites of HRT for osteoperosis and such.
I watch a little TV. And I decide to get to the office a tiny bit early.
At
the car, I put my luggage in and I expect to see my other black briefcase
in the trunk. I'm carrying my phone and laptop and stuff in my backpack.
But I had this other case in the car. I thought that last night I put
it in the trunk at some point. I look in the back seat. Not there. Must
be in the trunk. Look again. Nope. Know I didn't take it in. Mind races.
OK, if I did take it out, maybe I left it on the ground. Or I left
my car unlocked at the restaurant (keyless entry sometimes eludes me)
and it was pinched there. I'm not thinking too clearly, but I do remember
that I had an extra wallet in there with a couple of credit cards. I call
FFP. He agrees to go find the numbers and cancel them.
When
I'm at work, he calls back, says it's done. He says 'did you call the
police?' I'm thinking, hmmm, maybe I should ask the hotel if it was turned
in. Fat chance, but better to ask before calling the police. And the more
I think about it, the more I think I did take it out for the trunk so
leaving it on the ground seems like a stupid thing I could have done.
FFP agrees to find their number (it isn't on the bill) and call them and
then the police.
FFP
calls back and says, "They have it. I talked to Norma. I had them
look inside and they found something with your name on it."
I lead
the charmed life, no? My PDA that I rarely use was in there. And that
wallet. When you lose stuff, you always imagine where it is, what strangers
will do with it. I would have looked at the cradle for that rarely used
PDA. I take it for addresses on trips and have downloaded trip details
and PDA guide books but haven't become a PDA freak, using my laptop for
calendar and stuff.
My meeting goes
pretty well. I haven't prepared any handouts and others have. But I feel
in control of my tasks pretty much. A lot of people have to execute for
my plans to work, however.
The small amount
of adrenalin I could muster for the lost briefcase subsides. But the meeting
is not boring. Not at all. A senior guy suggests something I suggested
last August. A colleague tried to implement it in January. He smiles across
the room as the idea receives acclaim. After a while, we tell him the
history of the idea. Maybe with his backing we can do it. Later someone
asks 'who gave him that idea?' Actually, it's a logical idea. He had it
on his own.
The meeting is over
by four. I'm grateful. I go to the hotel and get the briefcase. It's been
sitting there for twenty-four hours, puzzling the help. The wallet is
in it. With credit cards and sixty dollars. It is a great briefcase, too.
Briggs and Riley. Holds laptop insert although even with Eagle Creek Ultimate
travel strap, I prefer my backpack for carrying my too heavy laptop.
Lots of other stuff
in there, too. Sam's Card. A compass. (Don't ask.) Anyway, I have it all
back. I have more stuff than I deserve, don't I? For sure.
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