The Case of the Missing Container

For some time, I had been searching for a food storage container I’d seemed to have lost a few months ago. I mean, I’d searched for that container up and down my house without the slightest trace of it.

I’d been so upset about losing it! The container was part of a collection from one of those expensive glass brands and it perfectly matched the rest of my – again – perfectly organized and color-coordinated food storage system tied to my kitchen color scheme. I even accused my son of stealing it on his way back to college after his last Spring Break visit.

Me! Accussing my son of stealing it!

Oh shame on me. But I blame the inner ‘Monk‘ in me. That pesky little OCD that pops up once in a while.

Anyways…

After some time, and a few heart-felt pep talks, I decided to let it go. Oh my perfectly matching food storage container! I’d just had to live with one less container to store food on – since I was NOT going to purchase another one to replace it. It would ruin my entire kitchen décor!

One morning at work, I made my way early to the lunchroom to store my lunch in the company fridge. Hardly any shelf space left (lots of people at my job). But after skimming through everyone’s stuff, I found a small space up on the top shelf, just shy of the fridge ceiling. The height of that little shelf could not have been more than 4 inches, and it was so small, so hidden, I had to hunch over and insert my head into its coldness to slide my lunch in.

But what happened next puzzled me. Right next to my lunch, there was another food container, just like mine. Same glass design, same dimensions, same lid color. Strange, I thought.

Curiosity took over, and so I slightly pulled out the newly discovered container, immediately noticing it had food inside. Perhaps a fellow co-worker’s lunch. So, I slid it back in, closed the fridge, and went about my business, not before mentally congratulating the co-worker, whoever he or she was, for having chosen such an awesome food container.

Weeks passed but the same sentiment roamed my head like an itch that never went away. Because every time I’d cook dinner and later prep my next day’s lunch, I’d think of my ‘missing child’, my lonely food container lost somewhere in this Earth. It was so beautiful, that glass container, perfectly paired with the rest of my storage and matching kitchen.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, same process. I came to work early, walked over to the company lunchroom, and as always, no room in the fridge. But alas! Same empty small space on the top shelf. I guess no one liked that spot. I could not blame them, it was small and tight, and…there it was again, that same container I had discovered last time. But a few weeks had passed since my last encounter, and how come the container looked intact?

When I slid it out, I noticed the same food inside.

Then it hit me. Oh, no…Oh, no, no.

That container was mine! My long-lost container had reappeared!

But…the food inside! Eeewwh! Moldy and, sad to say, fuzzy. No wonder there was always an empty space next to it. Oh dear, oh, dear-dear! What do I do?

I looked to my left, then to my right, and without anyone watching, I pressed on the garbage to pop open, and without thinking a second more, I threw the container away, slapped my hands clean, and left the lunchroom.

You might ask, why or why did you not take the much beloved container home and wash it to reuse it again?

Listen, I would not want to set my kitchen sink off, or might as well, the air around it. And who knows what new ecological system I had begun growing inside that container. Besides, I would not want to be responsible for yet again, as always happens, another End of Times in my own kitchen.