I had the odd and uncommon experience of not being able to find my keys Wednesday morning. I checked the two spots I normally leave them. Then checked again. Then the five expanded places I might leave them.

I tried to recall what exactly I did with them when I came home – to no avail.

I walked out to the car, peered into the ignition. No luck. Went back in the house to check again. Got as far as the dining room, and froze. I had seen something. Something in the last twenty paces.

I rewound it in my head, saw the dangling orange Texas that had been an inch above my hand when I walked back in the door.

Tuesday when I arrived home from work, a day after boardgaming in the Hill Country with friends, there was a package obstructing my door. The game I had purchased the week before. My hands being full, after I got the door unlocked and grabbed everything I kicked it open and entered.

I returned and closed the door, forgetting the keys. They spent the night.