I don’t usually post pictures on this blog, but I have to share this incredible story that happened to me. And a picture is a must. Here you see a picture of my fox coin purse that my mom bought for me the last time she came visiting. It’s become one of my favorite little things. I keep hair accessories in it—bobby pins, hair clips—for my purse.
Last week, it disappeared. I thought maybe I had left it at my friend Becky’s house, but she couldn’t find it. I was so bummed. I checked two Targets (ours and my mom’s down south), but they didn’t have any more. I figured my little West was to blame.
The other evening we went to Target and I met up with Becky who was shopping. She rummaged through her cart and whipped out a fox coin purse. It was on clearance and she said she would buy it for me because I had been so sad about losing mine. She said it was the last one. I thought, what luck! I was so excited as she gave it to the cashier to ring up.
“I’m sorry, we can’t sell you this,” the cashier said, “It’s been recalled. See the tag?”
Becky and I were dumbfounded. Why on earth was it recalled? The cashier wasn’t sure—she guessed maybe there was some issue with the fabric or something. Bottom line, she couldn’t legally sell it because it had a recall tag on it.
I was so upset. I explained how sad I had been to lose mine, how lucky it was to find one coin purse left, how I had checked other Targets, and how this was so stupid they wouldn’t sell it to me.
Partly joking I said, “Maybe I’ll just steal this one!” I picked up the coin purse to take one last longing look at it.
And my detective observation skills kicked in. I noticed that this fox coin purse had a similar, if not exact same, scratch on the back and a nick on the front as the one I had lost. I opened it, and was shocked to find…
…bobby pins inside! And all the pieces of this mystery fell into place. THIS was MY fox coin purse I had lost!
I had been to Target earlier on the day it disappeared. I deduced that Westly must have tossed it over the side of the cart without me knowing. Then some Target employee must have found it, tagged it, and tried to re-sell it with a clearance price. But perhaps because of the scratches or strange way in which it was found, Target decided to just put a recall tag on it and not deal with it anymore.
I started jumping up and down and exclaiming, “This is my fox coin purse I lost! Look, these are my bobby pins. Can I have it back?”
The cashier went to ask her manager. And I’m guessing she and the manager both agreed it would be less hassle to just let the crazy, squealing woman have her coin purse back.
So now I have Foxy back in my purse, holding my hair accessories. And I’ve got one of those crazy ‘I’m sure! kinda stories to tell.
I mean, what are the odds that not only is my lost coin purse found, but it’s found by my friend, the same friend who knew I had lost it. And what are the odds I was there when Becky tried to buy it, and I discovered it was mine all along?
Sounds like a ridiculous work of fiction.
Hey, some things you can’t make up.