Journal of a Private Eye: A Dark and Stormy Night

The night was dark. Very dark. Rain gushed down the windows like my nephews nose when he gets a nosebleed. But when you're a private eye, you learn to deal with whatever life sends you.

As I sat at my desk, I heard footsteps on the stairs. They stopped outside my door, so I knew what was coming. There was a knock.

"It's open!"

A blond head craned around the door. This character wasn't taking any chances as he scuttled in and sat down, glancing warily over his shoulder. I leaned back in my chair and planted my feet on the desk. My air of confidence always had a way of putting clients at ease.

"What's eating you, son?"

"Mom, I can't find my dictionary. You know, it's the little one you got me that everyone else always wants to use. Somebody took it and lost it!"

I stroked my chin, staring up at the ceiling. This was definitely going to be a tough one. I hadn't seen that dictionary around for weeks, much less days.

I fixed a stern eye on the client. "Did you look in your homework pile?"

He squirmed. "Yeah. Sort of. But I'm sure it's not there."

Tough character. He wasn't going to make this easy.

"How about under your desk."

"Not there."

"Your bed?"

He shook his head. "There's no way it would be under my bed."

"Did you look."

He hung his head. "Well, no. But there's no way it's there."

"I can't help you if you won't let me."

"Oh, all right." He jumped up and ducked out the door. "But I'm just wasting my time."

"Yeah," I responded. "We'll just see."

The call came later that day. Dictionary located. It was under the bed all the time. I stared out the window at the still pouring rain. Yeah, sometimes life threw you a curve, but you had to step up to the plate anyway. It was a good feeling to help one's fellow man. To put him on the path to...

...finding his dictionary.

Miserable weather, but still, a good day.