The Case Of The Missing File

It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does happen, it always baffles my mind. Especially since I was the last one to actually handle it. Let me start at the beginning.

It was a cold snowy Wednesday night with many people lingering around. I was in the office trying to concentrate on a file that had been plaguing my mind for weeks now. I knew there was a solution, but damned if I couldn’t find it. Others had seemed to handle this particular problem and they walked away unscathed, but not me. Thankfully, a friend who had worked on similar cases before stopped by the office to say hi. I asked her to lend a hand in trying to untie the mess that seemed to be getting worse with each keystroke. Thankfully she told me she had a few minutes to spare, took off her coat, rolled up her sleeves and prepared to struggle with the knots and kinks that had begun to mock me relentlessly. It only took a short while before she tamed the aggressiveness and showed me just how to take control of any other aggressions that might rear their ugly head to any unsuspecting person that falls prey to its intense confusion. I felt a huge relief lift from my sagging and shaking shoulders as I slowly took control of the situation. I looked at my friend with what I can only classify as enormous gratitude. She smiled, slipped her coat back on and with a cheery wave slipped out the door into the cold snowy night. I took a deep breath, cleared my throat and under my breath I baited and taunted this now tamed enemy to try and get the better of me now. It must have felt the new found power I had begun to show and with a weakness that made me smile it began to bend to my every wish. Oh what a joyful feeling I had as I conquered and took control over it. I almost cried with joy as I closed the file after having successfully completed everything that had held me back for weeks. I stood up and patted myself on the back for not caving into the hideous bowels of feeling completely stupid. I firmly slapped my hand on the folder and whispered to it, “Until next time my fiendish friend” and placed the file back into its rightful place. Or did I?

I went on with my life feeling more powerful and sure of myself, that is until I called the office the following Saturday. To my horror the file had vanished. I listened with impending doom as I was told that the file was no where to be found. My heart sank. I covered my mouth to conceal my shaky voice. Oh my God, was I too sure of myself. Was this just a clever ploy to allow myself a few moments of victory? I felt my shoulders sag again. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to handle the situation. Was this the beginning of my demise? I hung up the phone with heaviness and tried to concentrate on my day. My night was a restless one as I tried to retrace my steps of that night. I woke late knowing I had to go into the office.

I felt a strange calmness as I unlocked the office. Maybe it was just me, but I swore I heard a silent laughter as the heat clicked on and the air compressor for the elevator let out its hiss of release. I took off my coat, and inhaled deeply. I looked around, making sure I was alone and with a deep voice I called out “you will not beat me do you hear me? I will not let you win.” I sat down to get prepared for my tasks. I turned on the computer, reached for the receipt book, knowing I would be making out receipts to those that had to pay for their services rendered and accidently pulled out other things along with the receipt book. I cussed myself as I cleared the mess up and almost cried out. It was like an electric current raced through my entire body. There on the desk, papers’ spilling from the covers was the missing file. I looked at the desk file holder beside the phone and then looked across the room at the shelf file holder. I looked back at the file and gingerly picked it up. I took a deep breath as I firmly walked the file back to its rightful place. I’m still not sure how this file ended up on the desk file holder. Was I too overly confident where I could have placed this particular file in the wrong place, or could there have been another set of hands that placed the file there by mistake? I have a feeling I’ll never know what really happened, but I can now rest easy again knowing this case is officially closed!