Maria' Sabini's younger sister, Angelina, was the thorn in her side. With just three years between them, they were the closest in age of the five siblings. Maria and Angelina were like night and day. Maria liked to dressin dungarees, while Angelina preferred frilly dresses. Maria rarely brushed her hair, while Angelina primped every day. Maria liked to run in the woods and play with boys. Angelina liked to watch Maria and report back to her parents.
"Does she have to go with me?" Maria wailed. "She's your sister," her father replied. "You should take care of her, watch out for her. She looks up to you. When you've lost contact with your so-called friends, she'll still be your sister."
Twenty-five years later, Maria was maid of honor in Angelina's wedding. Five years after that, she was godmother to Angelina's first born son. Their lives were as intertwined as vines in the woods. As they grew older, Angelina was busy with her growing family, while Maria pursued her career. Although deeply connected, they spent less time together as they built separate lives and separate homes.
Still after all this time, they were very different. Angelina's one home was meticulous. She worked with a decorator to make sure the furniture, wallpaper and drapes coordinated properly. Angelina's home had curb appeal. When you entered the foyer, you felt the ambience. Underneath the decorated and designed surfaces though, chaos and clutter lay waiting in closets and drawers.
Maria, on the other hand, changed her residence frequently. Her homes tended to have that cluttered, chaotic, lived-in look. Where no one could see, her drawers and closets were neat and organized. Her furnishings were eclectic, picked up along the path of her life from garage sales, deceased relatives and thrift shops.
One day, as Maria was changing the linens on her bed, she went to her linen closet to get a quilt. The quilt wasn't there. "Hmm," she thought to herself, "I could have sworn I put that quilt back in this closet. But maybe I left it in the laundry room."
Maria searched the basement for the quilt. It wasn't there. "That's weird," she thought, "how could I misplace a king-size quilt." Maria knew her husband wouldn't have a clue about the quilt but she had to ask. "Dear," she questioned, "have you seen the burgundy and beige quilt?"
"Huh, what quilt?" her husband replied. "I don't know nothing 'bout no quilt," he joked.
"Well, what could have happened to it?" Maria said to him.
"I don't know," was his response.
Maria chose another quilt from the closet and finished making up the bed. She looked under the beds and in the closets of all three bedrooms. It wasn't there. She wondered if she was losing her mind as she stood staring into the linen closet.
As she went about her tasks, making dinner, feeding the dog and cats, she kept thinking about the quilt. "Who would take a quilt?" she thought. "I better call Angelina."
"Angelina, have you seen my burgundy and beige quilt?" she asked when Angelina answered the phone.
"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Angelina laughed. "I borrowed your quilt to use in my Sunday class. It's the colors of the earth. I told my class, it's a holy quilt. I guess, I forgot to tell you. I'll get it right back to you."
"No, no, that's all right," said Maria, "it's not that I need the quilt. I own lots of quilts. I was just wondering how a quilt could disappear. I mean, one day the quilt is in my closet and then it's gone. You can keep the holy quilt for your class. Just tell me next time you take something."
"Okay," said Angelina, "thanks. Talk to you later."
Another day, Maria came home, she noticed something was different. She realized that her framed photographs of a friend's family were missing. First thing this time, she called Angelina. "Angelina, she said, "did you move any photographs in my dining room?"
"No," replied Angelina, "it wasn't me. I didn't do it."
"Well, who could have done it then?" asked Maria.
"I don't know," said Angelina, "but it wasn't me this time."
Maria called her friend, Beth. After they chatted for a couple of minutes, Maria asked cautiously, "Beth, did you notice what happened to the photographs that were on the buffet in my dining room?"
"Oh, yeah," said Beth, "I took them. I was over one day and noticed what good pictures of my family they are. I couldn't help myself. I have them in my office where I can look at them."
"You know, Beth, one day something is there and the next time I look, it's gone. I start to wonder if I'm losing my mind. I want them back," said Maria.
One morning, after Maria got up and was ready to leave for work, her keys weren't in their usual spot. "I hate that, " Maria thought to herself. "I hate it when I don't put my keys where they belong. Now I have to find them." Maria looked in all the places where she regularly misplaced her keys--in the lock on the outside of the door, on the kitchen counter, in the pocket of her coat. The keys weren't there.
"Hmm, that's odd," thought Maria. "Now where could I have put those keys?" Since she had to get to work, she took the spare set of car keys and left. Of course, at work, she had to depend on others to lock and unlock her office. Therefore, everyone knew she lost her keys.
They all suggested where to look--purse, jacket pocket, pants pocket, on the floor, laundry room, and under the furniture. "I searched all those places," swore Maria. "I had the keys at home because I drove my car and unlocked the house."
"Maybe you put them in another pocket when you walked the dog," a co-worker suggested.
"Good idea, I'll check when I get home," said Maria. Maria checked all the pockets, in all the jackets, in all the closets. She looked under the furniture in the living room again. Still the keys remained missing.
She questioned the dog and the cats, "Did you guys take my keys?" They all responded with curious stares and tilted heads. She begged her husband, "Did you see my keys?"
He stared blankly and tilted his head. "You know, it takes a uterus to find anything," he joked. "Did you look in your car? Maybe they fell on the floor?"
Maria searched the car. The keys weren't there. In desperation, she called Angelina. "You haven't seen my keys, have you?" she asked.
"No," said Angelina, "but where did you have them last? You need to retrace your steps."
Maria called Beth. Beth hadn't seen the keys either. Beth had the same suggestions as everyone else. Maria felt there was no place left that she hadn't looked.
A week later, at work, she said with resignation, "I guess I'll never find them. Order another office key for me." In two days, she had the new key. She compiled a new set of keys with the new office key, the spare car keys, and a spare house key. She stopped asking people if they had seen her keys. Still she just couldn't believe her keys had disappeared.
Maria kept shoes by the door, that were easy to slip on for dog-walking in any kind of weather--pleasant, muddy, or raining. That night, when the dog needed to go out for a walk, it was raining. As she slipped her foot into the shoe, she met with some resistance. There in the shoe, on the floor, in front of the door were the keys!
She must have come in the door, and as she went to hang up her keys on the hall tree, they fell silently into one of the shoes. Since the weather had been nice, there was no need to wear the rain shoes. So, finally, the mystery was solved.
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