I knew the day would come...

I knew it was just a matter of time, I knew the day would come.  I have been waiting for this day since this past June.  In June we took three working Lingle dwarfs to the Verizon store to purchase their own cell phones.  Of course these particular dwarfs were not about to be seen with outdated technology, so the three of them, Happy, Dopey and Sneezy purchased the latest and greatest of the moment phones, paid for the activation fees, the insurance the started on their journey of being the proud owners of technology that had unlimited, texting, internet, calling, gaming, etc. 

Now not a single one of these three dwarfs are what I would call incredibly organized or focused.  However the girl dwarfs have some what of a life line between their phones and their beings.  It is most always on them or beside them, never more than a hand snatch away. 

The boy however, while he has it on him most all the time, never answers it when it rings (it is always on silent except for his blaring alarm in the mornings) claims he never got the text and has yet to set up his voice mail, and is most often found playing games, or reading on his device. 

Today the call came while I was driving home from work. "Mom, I have to tell you that I left my phone on the bus.  I think.  But I already handled it.  The bus driver is going to keep it til tomorrow.  So you will get the phone back on the am bus tomorrow?", I ask.  "No, I mean the afternoon bus driver. I don't need it until then any way. "  I think to myself, he seems pretty calm about this, but I am not so sure that I agree with the plan.  " Dopey, I say, please call back to the depot, and ask them if I can come over now for it, I will come the long way home so that I can run past and get it from their office.  "Okay, mom, I will call right now."  Perfect... 

The phone rings again.  "Mom, they are just now going out to look for it. I gave them your number and they are going to go get it and call you." 

My phone rings, oh I don't know for the 3rd time... "Hi this is the bus depot.  We do not have your dwarf's phone on the bus, I just checked the entire bus.  The driver was there, and he showed me where your dwarf sits, and the phone is not there."  I say as kindly as I can, as the feeling of dread runs through me, knowing the price tag of said phone,  if there is any possible way that the phone slipped between  the seats or between the seat and the side of the bus.  She agrees to go out and look again, all the while I am quickly approaching the location of the depot. 

As I am pulling in to the depot my cell phone rings again, and the kind and helpful employee says that the phone is not on the bus. It is not in the seats, she ran her hands all over the seats, it is just not there.   I tell her I am in the lot and will be in to the office in a second. 

Upon entering the depot my dwarf and I have clearly been the topic of conversation for the last 20 minutes or so.  I encounter a line of drivers, all talking and when the helpful woman arrives from behind the counter and introduces herself, she once again indicates that the phone is not on the bus. I say, well his siblings have checked his back pack, and pockets, they have checked the drive way and the road where they get off the bus and there is no phone.  He clearly got on the bus with the phone and got off without it and it is not like he was up walking around, or getting off or on at other stops, he was sleeping. He fell asleep with it in his hand, woke up got off the bus, and upon entering the house realized it was not on his person.

As much as I want to believe her, I don't.  I say, "okay, while I am here may I look on the bus for the phone?"  She does a double take and says, "No...you can't go on the bus, your not allowed.  I told you it is not there. "  In my gut I feel like it is there, that if I could just check myself, even if I did not find it at least then I could trust that I had looked everywhere for it.  At this point another driver, says to wait a minute.  She goes over to the table and puts down her belongings, and says to me, "I'll go look for you sweetie. Use your phone and start calling his phone."  So I start to dial.  In the meantime, the other drivers are all giving me their idea about what has happened to the dwarfs, phone, it goes something like this:

"You say he fell asleep on the bus? Then his phone, has done been stole, he wont never see that again."
"I had a kid on my ride lose their phone, and I stopped the bus and asked if it was any one's and no one claimed it, can you believe that?  A lost phone and nobody claims it, like they just don't care or something, and I bet their mom and dad will buy them a new one."
"You wont ever see that phone again. I wouldn't dial his number from your phone, cuz it will come up "mom" on his screen and the kid that stole it , he aint gonna answer it, no way."

I tried to explain that my dwarf went to private school rode a bus with very few other riders and those that were on this route were mostly siblings and a neighbor, but alas they thought that we would never see it again!

All this in about 90 seconds of time, until wide mouthed they all look out the door and say in unison, "She found dat phone! " 

In this particular instance, I am glad that I was persistent.  I am glad that I followed the prompting inside me that said, do not wait until tomorrow night for the driver to return the phone to the dwarf, too many things can go wrong between now and then.    I was so over joyed that I hugged that kind driver that went out of her way to assist me in my search.  My faith is restored in people and their kindness towards strangers.  I and my dwarf are grateful!  My dwarf is so grateful that he is drafting a thank you letter tonight as per my strong suggestion that he do so,  as I some how feel the need to prove to the bus staff that my dwarf is heads and tails above a hoodlum who would steal a sleeping child's cell phone and that the other children the dwarf's bus also have character, morals, and sound judgment. 

You really can't make this stuff up!