Find my phone

       

       My iPhone slid in a car with all its well-advertised slippery features: it flew to the right when I made a sharp turn to the left. Trying to be a responsible driver, I just glanced at the flying phone. I could not recover the phone having a cup of latte in my hand. At the first stop, keeping my foot on a break, I leaned over the console, moved my bag away but didn't find the phone on the floor of the passenger's side. I got off the road to check on another side of the car–this time more carefully. Nothing. My phone vanished. I even opened the back door and checked under the passenger's seat again, hoping that the phone would reveal its shiny skinny body from another angle. 

       Suddenly the phone rang. I reached out toward the sound, but the ring stopped. Guessing that it was probably my mother, I hurried up home to let her know that I was fine.

       Rarely do I fail to find solutions to my problems. 
       "Mama! I lost my phone in the car, I'll go to the carwash." Detailing my car, might reveal the secret place: extra cleaning won't hurt either. 

       "Sorry, mam! My crew checked everything and there was no phone. Are you sure you lost it in the car? One lady came the other day with the same request just to find later that she forgot her phone in a store. Can you think about where you could lose your phone?" - The manager was so carefully polite that his guess didn’t even insult me.

       "No, I couldn’t possibly lose it because I heard my phone ringing in the car after it was already gone. I saw the trajectory of my phone with my own eyes. I just couldn't catch it, driving." 

       At first, the manager and the receptionist glanced at each other with a certain look that made me doubt myself. Then, the manager suggested that the phone might get between the carpet and the floor ending somewhere in the bottom of the car just like Jonah ended inside of the giant fish.  In America almost everybody is way too religious!  I felt like the manager was preaching at me.
       "Mam, take you car to a dealership place. You need to take the seat out to find the phone."

       "You think so? I'll take my car to my dealership tomorrow, then." 

      Ninety dollars later I was on my way home without the phone, thinking how much it could cost me to take the seat out and would it not be cheaper to get a new phone.

      "Find my phone" is a great app. I started the iCloud at home and was comforted that it was pointing at our home address. The phone was in the car. I didn't have hallucinations.

      Next morning I drove to Raytown, MO, which was 24 miles away and shared the story with my colleagues. 

       "I need to take the car to my dealer to take the seat out."

       "Wait! Let me try! I'll find your phone in three minutes," - the cook said. Two hours later he returned me the keys in full embarrassment. Then, another guy suggested that the cook didn't know what he was doing and offered me a hand. At the end of the day three men and two women volunteered to help. The phone was nowhere to find.

       "Are you sure you didn't lose your phone somewhere?"

       I lost count how many times I described what happened to my phone. The easiest way to prove my point was "find my phone" app. I pulled out my iPad to show its location on the map. Everybody was staring at the screen of a new iPad in amusement, nobody yet saw how it works before. We all stared at the screen for several seconds.

       "Look! It points at Shawnee, not at Raytown,” – someone whispered. The "find my phone" was pointing at my home address. That was not just odd that was not possible. The phone was in the car!!! I've heard it ringing last night.

       "It might be the battery!" I guessed. "Find my phone" can't probably locate the phone correctly when it is not charged.

       At home I told my husband about how my employees tried to find the phone and almost took my car apart. 

       "Do you want me to take another look?"

       "No, that's OK."

       "Well, may be you needed to get another phone?" Nobody believed that I didn't lose the phone. Even my husband...

       Later at night I began processing the last 24 hours minute by minute to come to the moment when my iPad was pointing at the home address while I was in Raytown. If the battery was dead, then how did the iCloud locate the home address? I clicked on “Find my phone” one more time before going to bed just to prove that the phone was still in the car, and there it was: the phone was located at our home address again!    

       That was a full mystery, but it was a great mystery! I didn't lose the phone! So it's not the battery! But if the phone was under the seat of my car, then where did it go when I drove my car to Raytown? If the phone was somewhere in the bottom of the car, then it should show on the iCloud in Raytown in the morning, not at home...

       I went to the garage with my iPad like it was a metal detector and suddenly heard the beeping sound coming from underneath of the car on the right side. It was a very loud sound that I didn't hear before. Of course! I never went with my iPad into the garage!!! I ran into the bedroom upstairs.

       "Honey, Honey! I found the phone. Wake up! It’s beeping!" My husband put his robe on with a heavy sigh and went into the garage barefoot. He got on his knees listening to a very distinct sound.

       "H-m-m-m-m, you're right. It does come out of right side of the car."

      Then, he suddenly began moving away from the car.

       "Scott, what are you doing? The sound comes from underneath of the car." My husband paused, listening, and moved a few inches back closer to the car just to start moving away from it again.

       "Honey,…" 

       "Shhhhh, listen," - my husband interrupted. He unexpectedly stopped at the trash container.

       “Scott, you can take the trash out in the morning, please listen!” 

       "That’s exactly what I’m doing. I listen.” That was hilarious! What could a man listen to in a trash after midnight?! My husband stood up and looked inside of the trash container,

       “Honey, what are you looking for?" I tried not to laugh when my husband took a flashlight and began digging.

       Scott was pulling out one bag after another until he pulled out... a beeping bag among others. 

      "Honey, why did you throw out your perfectly new iPhone?"

       That was a numb scene: my husband and I stared at each other in silence.

      The phone was inside of the Starbucks bag. Now, I remembered that the bag from Starbucks was on the floor and became a target for the flying phone. Ironically, when I took my Honda to the car wash, I cleaned the car first.         

       In the morning my staff was anxiously waiting for the news.
       "Did you find the phone?"
       "Yes..."
       "Where?" I wish I could lie.
       "In the trash." That was another numb scene.