After recovering both my lost items last week, I thought I was done with losing things -- but no. This time I don't think it's my fault, but nagging doubts remain, causing me to enter obsessive-retracing-my-steps mode yet again.
I took the kids to JumpZone this afternoon for an hour to give Noel some peace to finish up his work and make dinner. While I sat and knitted, they played happily until ten minutes before time to go, when I took them to the arcade to play their beloved air hockey.
Five minutes until dinnertime -- right on schedule -- we went to the front so they could get their shoes and coats. Shoes, no problem -- but where were their coats? Archer had been wearing his black microfiber jacket, and Cady Gray her tan corduroy jacket. I was paying at the register while they were taking them off, but Cady Gray told me they'd thrown them on the bench that sits in the middle of the check-in area. Certainly I'd seen the two of them going into the play zone, and they weren't wearing their jackets, which means they took them off and left them in the 10x10-foot area between the door and the inflatables, which is lined with cubbies and hooks.
There were few people at JumpZone, so the distribution of children's shoes, backpacks, and other paraphenalia in the space was sparse. The kids' jackets were nowhere to be seen. I asked the two workers, who had been at the register overlooking the region since we arrived, whether they'd tidied them up, seeing as the items were left on the bench instead of put away. No dice. We walked around all the other paces where they might have ended up -- stools, benches, along walls, in corners. Nothing.
I'm left with the unpleasant conclusion that somebody snatched them up while leaving with their children. There seems little chance such an action could be accidental -- the jackets were hardly generic in appearance. Did some parent or grandparent really steal my children's coats on purpose?
I gave the staff my name, phone number, and a description of the coats in case they turn up or get returned. But I'm mostly questioning myself. I know they arrived with the coats, but I don't know what happened to them afterwards. Did I look everywhere I could? Why didn't I stay in near the front desk on a stool instead of going into the play area to sit on a bench? (Answer: I thought about perching on a stool, but last time I did that, my back got tired.) Is this somehow my mistake, in a way I can't quite fathom? Because I'm having a difficult time accepting that what seems to have happened, happened; it's more conceivable to my mind that I've pulled a Donna yet again.
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3 comments:
I'd like to think the best of people, but it sure sounds like someone took them.
Think of it this way: If someone needed children's coats badly enough to steal them, perhaps you can think of it as charity. Most in our circle of friends can fairly easily replace coats, but not everyone is so lucky. Of course, you will never stop looking at kids around town to see if they're wearing the coats... :) Also, someone might have taken them by mistake and will return them when they realize. Maybe. I think I'm still just creeped out from Julia's email about the woman who, after putting her kids and groceries in the car at Kroger (our Kroger!), had a gun pulled on her and lost her purse and cell phone. Another lucky encouter, I guess, considering what might have happened. I'll be under the bed if anyone needs me.
Yeah, I tried to pitch Donna on the "We can afford to let poor people steal our clothes" argument too, but she wasn't buying it.
Anyway, Playworld called this morning and the coats were found. The woman who called has no idea *where* they were found (or if they were just returned), but they're holding them there for us.
It's a Festivus miracle!
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