A Recent (mis)Adventure - Part 4
“What’s it doing in a school?!” cried Daniela.
“A college…I don’t want to think the worst but I can’t help it.” I replied.
The situation was looking grimmer by the minute. After making the journey out to Area 14 on a mission to recover my friend Elle’s missing phone from an address marked with an “X” on the Find My Phone map, we were now faced with a much more problematic scenario than we had originally bargained for.
“Let’s just get over there and figure out our next move.” I said.
I allowed myself the briefest interlude to appreciate the comedic scene in which Dan and I were the stars – two middle-aged women, neither of whom had bestowed the gift of life, cruising the school precinct as we joined the slow-moving, school drop-off cortege a few moments later. Crawling at a child-safe pace, we rubbernecked our way down the street in the vain hope of spotting a miracle.
We were never going to locate the phone this way, so we secured a veritable rockstar park – one I had an inkling any mother would scalp me for – and approached the school entrance where a constant bevy of small people were appearing in clown-like streams out of more SUVs than one would find in a Jeep dealership.
“This looks so wrong.” I said to Dan as we – childless – neared the gates, “We clearly don’t belong here.”
“It’s ok,” she said. “Let’s just go up to one of the teachers and explain the situation.”
“Do you think they speak English?” Even as I asked the question I realised how ridiculous it was, but the demographic in Area 14 was very specific, as was the college we were closing in on.
We had two teachers to choose from, a male and a female.
“What do you think is the right protocol here?” I asked.
“Maybe the female teacher?” responded Dan, intuiting the motivation of my question.
“I don’t know,” I said, “The male teacher looks young and hip, maybe he’d be better?”
The female teacher was matronly, middle-aged and gave off an air of tech-unawareness that concerned me – would she even understand our dilemma? By contrast, the male teacher looked to be in his 20s, was wearing red jeans and Nike Air Max sneakers to match. This guy would be all over it, I felt instinctively. So, I decided to risk breaking cultural conventions and approached the male teacher.
“Hi, excuse me…” I was nervous. Turning, his radiant welcoming smile - obviously reserved for his little protégés - disappeared as he eyed us suspiciously.
“We’re so sorry to interrupt.” I continued, feeling the need to bow my head and roll my shoulders slightly forward, taking on a submissive pose as I doggedly pushed forward on my quest.
“My friend lost her mobile phone in a cab last night and the Find My Phone app is showing that it’s here in the school.” I held my own phone towards him on an outstretched open palm so that he could see for himself.
The teacher peered at it but said nothing.
“We thought maybe one of the kids found it and has brought it to school…?” Daniela offered, filling the awkward silence left by our mute interlocutor.
Silently, he pulled out his own mobile phone and pulled up a map. He zoomed in on our current location, switching his gaze constantly between my still-outstretched device and his own. Before I realised it, with two pinched fingers, he’d zoomed into the map on my phone as well.
Suddenly, he spoke.
“The phone isn’t in the school.” He said.
“It isn’t?” Was our stereo reply.
Without a word he started walking away from us. Taken off-guard, it took me and Dan a couple of seconds to realise we should follow him. He stopped just past the school perimeter, peered down at his phone again and then up at the building in front of him.
He waited for us to catch up before pointing and saying,
“It’s in there.”
What appeared to me as a monstrous multi-residential apartment building with countless units loomed before us. My mind reeled at the daunting task of trying to locate the phone in such a place.
“Good luck.” Said Mr Young-Hip Red Jeans as he walked away, leaving Dan and I staring wide-eyed at the haystack ahead.
…final instalment next week…