Someone gave me a little sign that says it all: Does This Look Like the Help Desk to You? Okay, let’s be honest, I probably gave it to myself because I tend to be a kind, Helpful Soul and somehow others always take that as an invitation to ask me to help solve their problems.

Which is not a problem.

In general.

However, it’s generally something that overshoots my normal capabilities, which said persons have correctly assessed to be stellar. So it ends up consuming a lot of time and effort.

Which I generally don’t have.

The last time it involved finding the cell phone of a (what I assumed to be a high-ranking) member of the military. They couldn’t find it and somehow I was drafted to run a search-and-rescue mission. It was hidden in a truly-amazing location which, if I ever need to pull off an undercover operation (as I do about every day in real life…), I will remember.

Now it’s a passport.

Don’t ask me details or I may have to do away with you. But a young man has lost/misplaced/he-knows-not-what his passport and I received a cryptic text message close to midnight kindly asking for my assistance.

Who is this? I puzzled, glancing at the number.

And why are they contacting me at this hour?

Personally, I deal with all sorts of countries and time zones and I still tend to confine my phone or text conversations to the period between nine a.m. to nine p.m. tailored to whomever I may be contacting. I realize that others possibly have very different circadian rhythms. Or they were brought up in a cabbage patch.

Who was it? A young man who needed my help.

What am I—a private eye—your very own Adrian Monk or Hercule Poirot?  A cyber lost and found department?

Apparently so.

It always comes down to somebody knowing somebody who says I live somewhere or visit there or am simply a helpful soul or I like people or I pray a lot and know things that other people don’t know…. In the final analysis, I usually say yes, I’ll sweep the environs and if it’s there, we’ll find it. Whatever “it” is.

Hmmm…. this could become a side job.

I once found a semi-precious stone as a teen on a dusty hockey Field. It was my own, a family heirloom. I never should have been wearing the jewelry set and playing field hockey. Walking up and down the dusty, pockmarked field, you can be sure I was praying. And it was found.

A real miracle.

These situations were different. Who knew where these items were, if they had been taped underneath a cafe chair or a stone bridge for safekeeping, or would be found washed up on a beach, underneath a capsized boat, or in an urban taxi. Maybe an item fell from a purse or backpack in a crowded shopping mall or office building-? The possibilities were limitless.

Welcome to the help desk. We’ll get to the bottom of this, one way or another!

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