From Gene’s Notebook

…the large red purse, covered with white dust, is on the abandoned railroad bed. I pick it up, rifle its contents and find some addresses and phone numbers.

I carry it home, and then dump the contents on the living room floor, looking for a number that I can call for information.

I recall my deceased mother saying, without explanation, “Do not look in women’s purses.” Well, whatever she wanted my young eyes not to see (personal hygiene items I later figured out) weren’t there.

I find a pay stub, a woman’s name. I call a number, and after some explanation, learn that the number is that of a friend. I give her my number. She tells me that the purse’s owner does not get up early and that she will call her later.

Several hours later, the phone rings, and it’s the woman from my call and her daughter. The daughter says she is on a cell phone, near our home, and they want to come for the purse. I give her directions.

A fancy SUV pulls up by Obama, Noriega, peace signs and scattered green plants and trees. I’m outside, so I go into the house to get the purse, contents long since put back (my mother is watching) ….

The mother and daughter say little. They have not reached the purse owner, yet, so they claim.

They do not comment on the signs or yard, so I ask if they like Obama. They say they do.

I give them them the purse, and they drive off.

No thanks offered.

Who was the owner?

Why was the purse on the abandoned railroad bed?

I found it on a Sunday at dawn.

Was it taken from the woman’s car, money and credit cards stolen and then thrown to the ground?

Did she throw it out in anger?

Had she blacked out?

Was she ill?

Is she ill?

What is the connection of the mother and daughter in the SUV to the purse owner? I feel they know a lot more than they have said, and that the owner is troubled, and that the details are none of my business. Maybe I should not have given them the purse.

Is the purse owner alive?

Has she been kidnapped?

Was her car carjacked?

No one has called me, and this occurred a month ago, with my craved thanks or information.

I should have saved the phone number of the woman I called. I could have written down the name from the check, names of the two women in the SUV.

I am not a very good detective.

Oh! I picked up the purse only partially as a snoop and voyeur, as several times people have found my lost items, saved them and called me, so until my wandering eyes again see ….

Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky
November 18, 2008