A short story

E.C. Lost and Found, IS, Inc.

Jeanie sat in the window seat of her tiny apartment, looking through the want ads in the newspaper. After she’d read for a while a small ad stood out.

“Are you adopted? Looking for a long lost friend or relative perhaps? (E.C.) Lost and Found, Is, Inc.
We Can help.
Call today to set up your search. (555) 555-5515.”

Jeanie blinked. Well, it was worth a shot. Everyone else had failed to find out what she needed to know. Dialing the phone, she was quickly answered by a kindly female voice.

“Yes? This is Marie at Lost and Found Inc. May I help you today?”

Jeanie took a deep breath, “Well, Ma’am, I’d like to see if you can find someone for me.” So far so good, Jeanie thought. “I need you to find m-me.” She waited tensely for the laughter it didn’t usually take long. All she heard was a whispered repeat of what she’d said like the woman was taking notes.
“Yes, dear. I will need to ask you several questions to get the search started. Could you come by the office today?” The woman at the other end asked politely.

Stunned, Jeanie stammered, “y-yes, I can be there in less than an hour if that’s a good time for you?”

“As soon as you arrive, dear. May I have your name please?”

“Jeanie, I mean I think its Jeanie Colet. I’ll be right there.” Jeanie rushed around the room tearing off her old gray sweat suit and tugging on a nice pair of slacks and her favorite blue shirt. She raced out the door, nearly forgetting her keys. She whipped down the stairs and into the subway.

Exactly forty-eight minutes later, she stood outside a modest looking office in mid-town. She nervously fumbled a tic tac into her mouth. Breathing deeply to calm herself, she entered, sucking furiously on the mint.

Across the gently lit waiting area she spotted an older lady seated behind a large oak desk. The woman smiled kindly as Jeanie stepped hesitantly forward.

“You must be Jeanie Colet, yes?” the woman asked warmly.

“Yes Ma’am. I am.”

“Come dear, let’s go into the back and begin shall we?” The woman turned and led Jeanie through a door behind the desk. “My name is Marie, as I believe I may have told you on the phone.” She indicated that Jeanie sit in a comfortable chair in a small office. “I’ll be asking you a great many questions, and then there are a few tests too to lock you into the system. Does that sound ok to you?” Marie smiled gently.

Jeanie nodded, still nervous. “I would love to get started, but first I have to ask what this will cost. You know how tight money can be.” She smiled self-consciously.

“Tut, dear. This is a non-profit business. Our service will not cost you a dime.” Marie smiled.

Relieved, Jeanie agreed to the process. She spent the next two hours answering question after question about every detail of her life since she found herself in the hospital. Every tiny little detail was sifted and mulled then Marie would ask another question, writing copious notes as they went along. Jeanie felt as though her entire body was on fire with anticipation, and a large dose of dread. What if she turned out to be a murderer, or a thief, or some other type of criminal! The horror! What if she were married?

Jeanie sat and fretted as she watched Marie write her notes. At last, Marie looked up at her and said, “We are done here, now lets get the tests completed so we can find you fast, ok?” Her eyes were kind, filled with a kind of sympathy that Jeanie hadn’t seen in any of the detectives or the police that she’d worked with in the past year.

Following Marie down the hall, she stepped into a tiny lab. Standing near the sink was a tall black man with the nicest face she’d seen in simply ages.

“Jeanie, meet Charles. He’s our lab technician and he’ll be taking some blood for DNA typing. I’ll leave you here for now.” Marie walked out the door to return to the front.

Charles gave her a quick grin. “Marie likes you, I can tell.” He indicated that she sit. “I guess that means I will have to be careful of you. She’s very protective you know, and I don’t want her banging my head for hurting you.” He had a very calming voice, deep in the baritone range with a rusty texture. Jeanie decided he was great almost immediately and began to relax.

“I’ll be as gentle as a mosquito bite,” He chuckled. “Unless you are from Alaska, then it won’t hurt that much.

Jeanie nodded, not catching the joke. She watched impassively as Charles drew the blood, then said goodbye and thanks as he left with the sample.

Marie reappeared to take her to the MRI and EEG, and then left her with another man for a quick psych evaluation. Jeanie was dragging with exhaustion when she finally opened the door to her apartment that evening. Marie’s last comment was ringing in her ears, “Our lists are far better than the police lists, dear. We’ll find you in no time.” Jeanie thought the woman had seemed almost smug as she said it.

The week passed slowly, Jeanie chewed her nails with anxiety. Millions of scenarios flew through her mind as she stood near the tiny window breathing in the muggy night air. A sudden gust brought the faint scent of salt to her nose, recalling the nightmarish day at the hospital when she’d woken to find herself a blank slate. She had no recollection of her life, her name was a guess, her clothes were gone, but for the swim gear that had only the initials J. C. on them.

No one knew her; no one came looking for her. She was a miserable young woman without a past. The police couldn’t help; all the leads were dead ends. The detectives were just as useless. For a long wretched year, she’d had no luck what ever.

Three weeks had passed. Jeanie called Marie. “Have you found me yet?” She almost begged.

“Jeanie dear, we haven’t found you on the national list, or the international yet, but we still have several countries to check. I’m betting that we’ll finish the last of them by the end of this week. I’m certain that you’ll get that call by then.” Marie said reassuringly. “I promise I’ll call as soon as I know anything, ok.”

Jeanie hung up the phone, frowning. What if they finished the lists and she wasn’t on either one?

Days passed. Jeanie paced, fretting and chewing at her fingernail. “Ouch!” She cried as she bit too deep. The doorbell rang. Jeanie nearly jumped out of her skin. She ran for the door.

Peeking through the spy hole, she saw a tall clean-cut man with the most amazing blue eyes she’d ever seen. “Who is it?” She called out.

The man held up a badge the showed the Lost and Found logo and his picture. “Pardon me for dropping by Ms. Colet; I felt you might like the information as quickly as possible. My name is Jason Molera. I work in the third division of L&F. May I come in?”

Jeanie quickly slid the lock open and let him in. “please do come in Mr. Molera. Have a seat, may I get you anything?” Her voice shook with tension.

Jason sat, “Now, please do not worry over me, my dear. Let’s get to the knit shall we?” He took a large sheaf of papers from the case he had, and laid them carefully on the table. One by one, he flipped through them. With a slight cough, he began to talk. Jeanie thought he seemed a bit nervous.

“Your real name is Jan’E Col V’Noria. Your father works in transportation, his name is Kleint V’Noria. Your mother is a fashion designer, her name is Flessa. You have two brothers, both older, one Kothi the other Aarin. Your two sisters are older as well, Ori and Pricelle.” He cleared his throat again.

“You are twenty six years old, never married, and work with your mother.” As he paused, Jeanie thought over the names, they seemed very familiar. No sudden flash of clarity came, although she urged herself to remember with all her might.

Jason pulled another sheet to the fore. “You like to surf. That was how you had the accident. During a vacation trip with your boyfriend Chel, you were hit in the head by his board as he was thrown from it by a large wave. He was taken to one hospital, you to another. He recovered with in just a few days, while you woke up well before him and remembered nothing. So, at the time you needed someone to look for you, he was still unconscious. When he came to, you had already left the hospital to stay at the shelter. And new being news, you got shifted to the back burner by that monsoon in Guatemala, and Chel assumed you’d gone home.”

“Mr. Molera, I still don’t…” She paused as he wordlessly handed her a photograph. She saw herself standing on the beach with her arms around a beautiful woman. She saw the pink tinged waves, the distant flare of light glinting off the snowcapped peaks of a jagged mountain across the sparkling water, the blue light of the suns casting purple shadows around every tiny rock and bit of flotsam.

“That’s your mother, my dear. She’s looking forward to seeing you.” He cleared his voice again, nervously. “Miss Colet? The reason you weren’t found very quickly was because you were neither on the national list nor the international. You were on the interstellar list.” He looked distinctly worried as she smiled up into his face.

“I know. I remember now.” She grinned with delight. “It all came back when I saw Mama and me on the beach at Antarra. It was my first trip to Antarres Prime. I remember it all!” She jumped to her feet and threw her arms into the air in exultation.


Later that night Jason sat with Marie at the Blue Moon Lounge, they sipped quietly at their wine with a great sense of satisfaction.

“I love our job.” Marie said with a sigh.

“Me too, mom.” Jason grinned. “I just wish we could do that for everyone that comes in.” He raised his glass. “To the Earth Chapter, Lost and Found, Interstellar, Incorporated.”



The end… maybe.