Hide and Seek

Do you believe in ghosts?
I do.
Without a doubt.
I've had far too many experiences
to think otherwise.

Case in point:
My Uncle Bob.

Today is the anniversary of Uncle Bob's death.
We all miss him a lot,
especially Cousin Alex.
But I must admit, it's hard to be sad about it.
If you knew Uncle Bob, you'd understand.

Uncle Bob was a mischievous soul.
He was always pulling pranks,
teasing us kids,
making life miserable for us,
but making us laugh the entire time.

One thing he was notorious for was
moving items when you weren't looking,
so that when you turned back to your task,
whatever it was you were using was gone.
Poof!
Disappeared.

Soon after he died,
my mother (his sister)
started noticing things would go missing.
Then they would turn up
in exactly the same place she had just looked.

In her house, there is a picture of Uncle Bob
that is often found face down.
No one in the house has moved it--
no one would dare dishonour his memory--
and there is no explanation for it.
We know it's him.
Just reminding us he's still around.

After she told me this, I started to clue in.
Suddenly, all the items I was misplacing
started to make sense.
So now, when I'm missing something,
I say in a stern voice
"Uncle Bob! Give it up right now!!"
The item I'm looking for usually shows up soon after.

So, it should come as no surprise,
that when I misplaced my memory stick,
I wasn't too upset about it...
despite the fact that
all my writing is on that stick,
and even though I have hard copies of everything,
I didn't want to re-type it all.

I searched the house,
several times,
and finally came to the conclusion that I had left it at work.
So I searched my desk yesterday.
Moved my keyboard,
checked under the monitor stand,
sifted through every drawer.
Nothing.

I sat at my desk,
letting my mind wander,
trying to remember where I last used it.

Then it occurred to me what day it was.
Of course.
I sighed.
"Uncle Bob! Not funny, you know!"

And I lifted my keyboard,
the one I had just looked under,
and there it was--
my little black memory stick.

"Very funny," I muttered.

When I meet him again,
I'm going to hide his wings.