I am so upset. Not hopping mad, but that unsettled upset where you just can't get comfortable.
Today seemed like a good day to take off, being between New Year's Day and a Saturday. Good idea! And it also seemed like a good day to take Ashley and Amberleigh to see "The Cheese" - AKA Chuck E Cheese.
Got there. Found a booth. Got our olive pizza (yep, that's the only topping they won't pull off). And then we sallied forth with our 30 tokens. But just before that, I said to Ingrid, "I'll wait here if you want to take the girls." "No, we can all go." "But who will watch the stuff?" "Everyone leaves their stuff in the booth, that's not a problem."
Being the untrusting soul that I am (I do admit that trust is an issue for me...), I grabbed my purse, and we all left our jackets on the booth benches. Ashley's was lying on top of mine.
The place was unbearably warm, and I wondered if they ever found bodies that had expired from heat exhaustion under the tables or games.
Around the time we were ready to get the girls home for their nap, we went back to retrieve our coats. Mine was there, but that was all. After a slight elevation of blood pressure, I looked under the table. There was Amberleigh's coat. But Ashley's? Gone. Not under the table, not in the next booth, not on a hook somewhere, not on any other child that we could see in our 20 minute walk around the "amusement" center. Nowhere!
We left a phone number and description, but someone is either walking around in Ashley's coat, or selling it on e-bay. Pink, the color of her headband. And hearts sewn into it. And a very soft inner lining in the hood.
I'd like to think it was an innocent mistake, but what "innocent" person takes a coat from someone else's booth?
So, be on the lookout, and let's hope it was someone who was freezing and desperate for a new coat.
