March/April 2001

Stifling a yawn, Jenna jerked the front door open, goosebumps forming on her bare arms in the icy morning air. Jenna scuttled hastily to the edge of the driveway, snatching up the morning newspaper. Just about to turn back to the house, she noticed a strange lump on the other side of the yard, just beneath the azalea bush. Frowning in puzzlement, Jenna approached cautiously. She had never been much for dead animals . . . then again, it could just be an oddly colored pile of leaves. But when she finally stooped down to the object, she found it was an old hat! It was the lightest cream color, and despite the small hole on the bottom rim, the hat was perfect. Jenna curiously pulled the hat on her head. It hugged her ears cozily, as if it were made specially for her. Grinning, she sauntered back into the house to grab her book bag, shuffling back out and down the street to the bus stop. *          *          * When the lunch bell at school finally rang, Jenna snatched the hat from her locker and scampered into the cafeteria in record speed. She collapsed, panting, onto one of the flimsy plastic chairs directly across from her two best friends, Lauren and Jessica. “Hey, guys!” she nearly shouted. “Look what I found on my front lawn this morning.” Holding up the old winter hat, she let Lauren and Jessica examine it closely. “Hey, guys! Look what I found on my front lawn this morning” Lauren wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ew! Do you know where that thing could’ve been before ending up on your lawn? It’s dirty, and whoever wore it before you could’ve had lice or something, Jenna!” Rolling her eyes, Jenna turned to Jessica for support. Looking down at her macaroni and cheese, Jessica mumbled, “Lauren’s right, Jen. It is sorta gross, you know.” Jenna sighed and placed the hat gingerly down on the seat beside her. Just then, Lindsay called to the threesome from across the cafeteria, motioning that she had saved them seats. Heartily ambling over to Lindsay’s table with Lauren and Jessica at her side, Jenna completely forgot about her new hat. It was still waiting patiently on the table when the bell ending lunch rang. The kind old janitor scooped it up into his arms, along with the growing pile of assorted lost items, and dumped everything into the lost-and-found bin right outside the cafeteria. Just then, a tall, lanky boy sauntered up to the bin and began rummaging through the strange collection of lost items. “Now, I just know my watch is in here!” he mumbled determinedly. Suddenly, his hand touched upon some soft, worn fabric. Pulling out the object, he saw it was a warm old winter hat. His fingers touching the same material as Jenna’s had earlier, the boy positioned the hat on his head, his lost watch forgotten. Stuffing the hat into his book bag, he strolled nonchalantly off to class. *          *          * When the dismissal bell rang at the end of the school day, the boy strode out of the school building, breathing in the fresh frosty air, and unhooked his bike from the rack on the side brick wall. Before straddling the faded leather seat, he jammed his new hat on his head. He then rode off, pumping his legs hard to get home as fast as he could. He was eager to finish his biology homework so he could meet his friends at the skating rink. At last he reached the sloping front lawn of 46 Chestnut Street and threw his bike down on the driveway. Jamming his rusty key into the door’s lock, he shoved it open and called a greeting to his grandfather, “I’m home, Grandfather!” The old man appeared in the kitchen doorway. “What’s that on your head, boy?” he called back. The boy tossed the hat to his grandfather in response, and he quickly examined it. “Well, sonny,” the old man began, “it’s not every day you get a nice, hand-knit old winter hat like this one. But, it seems to me that this could be the same hat my patient was wearing at the hospital today, and lost. His description pretty much matched this here hat. Now isn’t this is an interesting coincidence.” The boy shrugged. “No big deal. It’s just an old hat. Take it to your patient and see. It could easily be his hat, since the parking garage is across the street from my school. Someone probably found it and turned it in to the lost-and-found.” With that, the boy clambered up the stairs, lugging his heavy backpack behind him. “Well, I have work to do at the hospital, and that patient might be coming in again tonight, but I’ll be back for dinner!” Grandfather called up the stairs. He hobbled outside to the old beat-up station wagon and rumbled off into the distance. When he at last arrived at Schwartz Hospital’s faculty parking lot, Grandfather grabbed his briefcase and stuffed the hat inside. He then scuttled inside the brilliantly illuminated building to escape the chilly winter air and climbed inside the sturdy silver elevator. He jabbed his finger at the third-floor button and then stepped off at his stop. When the doctor arrived at his destination, he set his briefcase down on the floor, the hat still snuggled inside, and began to sort out a large pile of papers. Suddenly, the phone rang in an irritated tone. Grumbling, Grandfather picked up the receiver. The impatient voice on the other end told him he was needed in the emergency room downstairs immediately. Hastily placing his stethoscope around his neck and buttoning up his long white lab coat, Doctor Fitzgerald rushed to the elevator and descended to the emergency room to save a fortunate someone’s life. Meanwhile, another doctor on the same floor was busy shouting madly into a small cell phone while sauntering down the same hallway