Who Hid the Phone?

It can only be so many places

Parnell distinctly remembered putting his cell phone on the living room mantle before he went to bed the night before. He’s never had the need to sleep with it nearby, but he does turn it up before going to bed. The occasional texts he’d receive go unheard all the way in the bedroom, but the sustained ringing of a call could actually wake him.  

The only place he hadn’t looked yet was with his wife, who had gone to the gym an hour ago. Since their cases were different colors – hers red and his black – there was little chance she picked it up by accident.

Parnell jumped in the shower, retracing the previous night’s actions. He was positive he laid it and all his keys on the mantle as he had done for the past six years. The keys were there.

While getting the coffee maker set up, he was still determined to find that phone. When Drena got home from the gym shortly after the coffee started percolating, the first thing Parnell asked her to do was to call his cell to locate it, that is, if it was still in the house.

Drena grabbed her favorite mug, poured some half and half, and then punched in Parnell’s contact information.

“Shh,” Drena said. “You hear it yet?”

“As a matter of fact I do,” Parnell said. “The sound seems to be emanating from your gym bag.”

“Well, look at that! How’d that get in there? Sorry about that, Parn. Must have picked it up by accident. It was before my first cup, so ya gotta let it slide on that alone. Good thing I didn’t need to call you if my car broke down or something. You wouldn’t have answered.”

“Yeah, good thing.”

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