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Senior Correspondent

The Summer of Lost Things

It started in June when my 1992 Honda flunked its smog test. I put money into repairs and it passed. The car was good for another 100,000 miles.

A few days later the Honda was stolen. The police found it almost immediately minus the battery and radio. And the catalytic converter. A bad start to the free-wheeling days of summer,

The next thing was the Lady Friend lost her back scratcher. She depends on it every day. And every day she’s looking for it. She couldn’t find one in the local pharmacies. So she is planning a trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown. She’s sure there are shops there that stock them. I’m hoping she hops a BART soon for my own relief.

I don’t keep good files. I tend to let things pile up. When I need something, it is difficult to find. A few days ago I could not find chapters of a work-in-progress. We sifted through pile after pile and found only a few chapters. We still have piles in multiples to go.

While we’ve been looking for the missing chapters, the Lady Friend is also searching for the Flash Drive. The small device backs up all the files on the computer.

We’ve been missing articles of clothing. The Lady Friend’s favorite jacket, for example. She last wore it in July in a hospital room where I was having my annual checkup after surgery. (The news was good.) When we were leaving, the Lady Friend realized she wasn’t wearing her jacket. She went back to get it.

Too late. The cleaners had  finished with the room and had gone on. She retraced her steps. No sign of the jacket. It was light, stylish and a favorite of hers. She’s enjoyed wearing it for five years; now looking

to replace it with something like it. So far no success.

I’d left a blue, fleece-lined lumber jacket in my Honda the day it was stolen. I, too, find myself vainly looking for a favorite article of clothing just like it every now and then. So far no luck.

This article originally appeared in the San Leandro Times.

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