The Case of the Missing Key

I have the unfortunate penchant for losing things. Losing my wallet. Losing money, purses, and keys. Sometimes I just misplace them, or forget them when I need them. Sometimes I lose them good and proper. One of the things I really love about Korea is that I don't have a door key for my apartment. It's a key code! It's impossible to lose a key I don't have. As joyous as that was within a few months I was given a classroom of my own and with that luxury came the responsibility of a key. Promptness not being a strong suit of Koreans I was usually showed up before Helen (My Korean co-teacher, her proper name is 김현득) So if I forgot my key I had to sit in the hallway or pretend that I wanted to sit outside. "Why it's a lovely day, I'm just enjoying the sunshine" I'd say to the students who'd look at me as if I'd lost my mind. (Of course everything I do is taken with a grain of salt, as it could just be "American Style") After leaving my key in its special "If-I-put-it-here-I'll-remember-it-in-the-morning" spot I came up with the genius idea of dangling it from my cel phone. (Koreans are quite fond of cel phone bling, mine is at least useful as it's also my bus/subway pass). This worked wonderfully for quite some time. Then...disaster! It seemed minor at first. One time the key had half escaped from its chain. A few weeks later it was completely loose but still in my pocket. Another day it had migrated not only away from the phone but from my coat pocket to my pants pocket. I was becoming increasingly worried. What was I to do? Already I'd been forced to climb through a window when the hallway was empty to avoid admitting I'd forgotten the key again. Then one day I simply couldn't find it. I searched through all my "safe" spots. I emptied all my pockets. I turned my apartment upside down. I worried for an entire weekend. Where could it be? It was gone. I concluded it must have escaped one night while I was out with friends. I imagined it even now living in a taxi, or exploring a garbage dump. Finally I had to admit to my co-teacher that the key was good and lost and there was no hope of retrieving it. She took it well and within a few days we had gone to a nearby key smith and had hers copied with an extra made in case either of us should lose ours again.

You think that'd be the end of the story. Lesson learned. BUT NO!!!

I did develop a system to avoid losing my key. I kept it in the small front pocket of my purse and only took it out to unlock the classroom door then promptly put it right back. Now, this may seem like common sense and something I should have been doing from the beginning. However it was a new purse and so the option hadn't been available to me yet. Also, like I said. I'm bad at that sort of thing. Months went by. I managed to not lose my key. Why, it even came with me on vacation and was not lost. Magic!!!

Then the unbelievable happened. I was doing my laundry (that's not the unbelievable part) and when I opened the machine what should my wondering eyes should appear but a key! A suprisingly rusty key. Now how in tarnation did my key get from my purse to the laundry? I must have accidently put it in a pocket and washed...or maybe it was a key from America...No, it had a Korean name on the back. I dug up my purse to put it back when SHOCK!!! There already was a key there!!! This rusty key was the first one I'd "lost" It was not traveling Korea and points beyond it'd been hiding somewhere in the blackhole connected to my washing machine (You know the one, it's where all the missing socks go). I don't have a large machine. I do my laundry regularly. Most of the load was new clothing from America so it couldn't have been hiding in a pocket all this time.

WHOA!! What brought it forth from the abyss after all this time? We may never know. Let's be thankful that at least it's back.