I love the concept of Lost and Found - that which we have lost can be found. Love the stories of someone finding a long lost class ring washed up on a beach and then, after a search, locating the rightful owner. There’s always another story about how the item was lost.
Of course, all things are not so simple as connecting a lost item with its original owner. Some long ago situations can only be found in memories. But with material objects, if something is lost, perhaps someone would be pleased by having it returned.
This concept forms a favorite book plot of mine. I truly enjoy reading about lost items reconnected with their rightful owners. In fact, reading Susan Wiggs’ newest novel, The Lost and Found Bookshop prompted these memories, these thoughts. In it, protagonist Natalie Harper inherits her late mother’s bookshop situated in her grandfather’s home which he refuses to sell. The plot revolves around all the nooks and crannies in the old building and all the new discoveries the characters make.
Probably, my favorite book about lost and found is The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. For years, Anthony Peardew finds trivial items - “lime green plastic-flower shaped hair bobbles, bone china cup and saucer,” catalogues each item, noting when and where he found it, then places it in a storage cabinet. It falls to his assistant to try to find the owners. Of course, each has its own tale within this tale.
But there are many books based on the premise of lost and found: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate; The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick; Lost and Found by Jacquelin Sheehan, to name a few. Even more books are set in bookshops.
But when it comes to real life, most of us have stories to tell along the lines of lost and found. When we first built our home, Bob hid a key on the rafters of the garage. Long before I moved in, the key disappeared. We assumed it had ended up in some creature’s nest somewhere. Years later when we remodeled the bathroom, the contractor brought us a key. He had found it behind the tub enclosure. When the house was being built, Bob battled pack rats. Although they’ve long abandoned our property, it seems as if they left a reminder that they were once active here.
Most of our lost and found stories revolve around items we’ve left in the most unusual places. My dad loved teasing my mom about the time she lost her garters. In a hurry, she tied her hose as was the fashion in the 1930s. As she packed a diaper bag before leaving, she found her garters…in the refrigerator by the baby bottle. And where have people found their car keys when they failed to leave them in the usual place? Oh, the stories they reveal.
Of course during the pandemic, we’ve all experienced lost. Obviously, the most devastating is the loss of life. The number of deaths attributed to the virus continues to climb. And then there are the ill who are hospitalized for weeks without the comfort of family nearby. This plague has also mean lost wages, jobs and economy. And , most of us have lost freedom to come and go as we please. Some venture out more than others, but even those, who respect the severity of the disease, have limited their comings and goings.
Elizabeth Berg’s book Arthur Truluv is not a book where someone loses a material item, then finds it. Rather she speaks of a more subtle lost after the death of a loved one. She writes, “But seeing the daffodil with Nola gone is not the same, it’s like he’s seeing only part of it.”
Certainly, with a vaccine, more of us will regain some of our freedoms. But hopefully, this pause in time will make all of us more conscious about good healthy regimens. We’ll wash our hands more, cover our sneezes and coughs, respect one another’s space.
It’s a lost/found situation I would have preferred never to encounter. But perhaps, we’ll appreciate a little more the many freedoms we do enjoy in this country. Until then, I’m grateful for books to read.
2020
Bình luận