Dear Gouvernail

Merrily

Administrator
Dear Gouvernail,

Yesterday afternoon I went sailing and had a great time. It was probably for the last time of the season, at least from a dock, as we are taking them in this coming weekend in anticipation of the coming freeze. Anyway, the wind was 10 to 12 and pretty steady for this time of the year, and I had a grand time with some planing runs and reaches. Then what with going back to standard time, the sun was getting low in the sky, and I decided to come in so I wouldn’t have to derig in the dark. I did so, and left my boat at the Laser dock for a few minutes in order to strip off my dry suit (the water was 45 degrees F, or 7 C). I walked up to my car and got the keys that I had left folded in my Laser cover and opened the car. In the meantime, a friend came along with a check to buy a Laser that I’d picked up a couple of weeks ago for fleet building. I gave him the gear from the back of my Jeep and signed Laser 1215 (a real beauty that used to belong to Dick Tillman) over to him. Then I went over and sat on a nearby stonewall and took off my dry suit and changed shoes. I put the suit and my dinghy boots in the car and then retrieved my boat. It took 20 or 30 minutes to get the boat taken apart and everything dried and put in its place and the cover neatly back on. I was ready to go home.

Then I couldn’t find my keys.

I had no memory of what happened to them after I opened the car. I immediately searched all around on the ground while it was still light. Then I looked in the likely places in the car--purse, gym bag, storage bin, pockets, mats, seats--on and under. Then I went back and took the cover off of my Laser. Then I looked inside of my blade bag. Then I dumped everything out of the bin and looked through every little thing. Then I looked on and around the stonewall. Then I looked in my toolbox, which I hadn’t opened. Then I unrolled my sail. Then I looked in the feet of my dry suit.

Then I enlisted the help of others as it was getting dark. A friend pulled his car up and shone the headlights on the scene for another ground search. I also looked on top of the Jeep and on every exterior surface. Then I looked in the clubhouse, which I hadn’t gone into. I looked on the counters and in the Women’s and Men’s rooms, on the theory someone else could have picked them up.

Then I called my husband to rescue me. He brought a second set of car keys up, and while I was waiting, I checked in with the friend who I’d sold 1215 to. He looked through all that gear.

Then my husband arrived and we headed home. As I turned left at the intersection, I heard the keys slide across the dashboard and hit down somewhere. Oh yeah, I left them there for safekeeping! I breathed a sigh of relief and was reminded of some dialog from a British detective show I just saw, “I’d know if I were sitting next to a corpse.” Of course, the second victim in the show was distracted and didn’t notice when he sat next to a corpse and was promptly garroted, too. You are a smart guy Gouv, and I know you know what I'm getting at.

Then I got home and went for the keys, but they weren’t there. It was a warm night and I had had the car windows open. My keys must have slipped out the window when they went flying and the hitting noise was of them skootching across the opening in the door. They had to have fallen on the berm. So I drove ten miles back to that intersection. Woe is me--my keys weren’t there.

I see it that two different things could have happened. They fell in the street where they were highly visible and a passerby picked them up for Samaritan or nefarious reasons. My house key and keys for every little thing are on that ring. I also keep the little plastic tags for getting discounts at grocery and other stores on it. The owner of the keys can be identified by taking them to any of the stores on the plastic tags, so someone could return them to me, or if the store is careless and gives out my info, someone could use my house key to get in. I’m not too worried as we have an alarm system.

The second thing that could have happened to the keys is quite a long shot. I have nerf bars on my Jeep--you know the long bars on the side used to step up. If the keys landed there, they could have bounced off and landed anywhere on the trip home.

I’ve already gone through all my stuff and car again today and returned to the club and examined everything in the daylight, to no avail. I've also talked to several area businesses and asked to them to be on the alert for my keys.

Here is my question Gouvernail. Is it wrong for me to resent that my keys are out having a bigger adventure than I have ever had?

 
One of your little discount cards may lead to the keys being returned to you. Most of those little "key cards" say on the back, "If found place in any mail box. Postage guaranteed." The keys will end up at a corporate headquarters and they will scan the card for you information. Assuming you used your current address when you joined whatever club the key tag belongs to the corporate hq will mail your keys to you. Still a longshot, but it's a great PR thing for stores to send lost keys back to people. How do I know this? I used to sell the little key chain tags.
 
Rob B said:
Assuming you used your current address when you joined whatever club the key tag belongs to the corporate hq will mail your keys to you.

You've given me hope. I knew that someone could get the keys back to me because of the plastic cards, but I didn't realize the loop that they would go through.

Here is what a friend had to say about the whole mess-- Awwwww ... don't get too keyed up about it. They probably found some cute little locksmith somewhere. Once they've had a good tumble, they'll latch their way back home to you!
 
I found my keys! When I went frostbiting yesterday, they were on the deck of my boat when I uncovered it. This only deepens the mystery as I checked there before. I can only think that some kind soul found them and placed them there. The alternate theory is that I had a bout of ditzyness. It happens to the best of us! :p Anyway, I'm so glad to have my keys back. :D
 

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