Fighting scattered thoughts, I walked through the store, keys in hand. I gathered everything I needed and headed to the register, hoping to make it home in time before my niece got home from school. After checking out I headed to the car with my mom in tow and reached into my pocket for my set of Mom's keys.
They were just there I was so sure, but no, they weren't. I remembered they were in my hand in the store. What on earth was I going to do? I told my mom they were gone then headed back into the store to search everywhere we'd been. NO KEYS. I was ready to cry. I checked with the help desk, and no one had turned in a set. I went outside and Mom was in the car. She had her spare set with her. I apologized the whole way home and she told me I was more upset about it than she was, but they were her keys, entrusted to me. I felt like I'd betrayed that trust.
For the next 3 weeks I called the store daily enquiring about the keys with no luck. They simply kept telling me to check in person (I lived 30 miles away). On my next trip to the store, I decided to check under all the shelves in the areas we had walked before, sure that they must have gotten kicked under one of them. By this time, I had the walk memorized. People stopped to look at me, I didn't care. One lady even asked if I was ok.
Finally, I took the chance and asked again at the help desk. One lady seemed to remember a set of keys but didn't find them in the office when she looked. She asked one of her co-workers and she said there had been a set the day before on the back counter. A search of the counter turned up nothing, then one of them checked the box of paper under the counter and behold, there were my keys! I was so excited I cried. The ladies behind the counter must have thought me crazy but they just didn't know the chaos my life was carrying. I cried and I rejoiced, all in the same moment. They didn't understand the importance of finding keys in the chaos.
