One Sunday afternoon, my little family went to SM North Edsa in Quezon City for Mila's pre-birthday shoot. It was a fun, exhausting day that had me knocked out as soon as I hit the back seat of the cab. It was a 45 minute ride from Quezon City to Pasay. Mila was with her dad and Ate Joy is there too so I felt safe. As soon as we were home, I wanted to check any missed messages, and I couldn't. My almost 2 year old HTC One S is missing from my pocket. That was a sleepless night.
CLUES
After One Week
I was in denial. I still won't get a new sim. I had high hopes I'd see Ms. H.T. Cones again. See, I have her set to automatically upload photos on my Dropbox account. I had a slight hope that someone will use her camera and take a selfie. Then they'll go online and I'll see who kidnapped Ms. H.T. Cones, just like in the news. I was not wrong. One week after Ms. H.T. Cones got lost, pictures of this couple and a high school kid popped up on my Dropbox. But those were just pictures and I still had no clue how to get her back. Do I post their faces in Facebook and shame them? I don't want that, not yet at least. And what if they find out and just dispose off Ms. H.T. Cones? What if they just bought her from someone else who pretended Ms. H.T. Cones was his? Wouldn't that make them innocent and blameless on this?
Another Week Passed
Ron, my manager, called me and said he had good news/bad news for me. Go ahead, start with the bad: he confirmed someone else is already using Ms. H.T. Cones. That's not news, I know that already. I got their pictures too. So what's the good news? He got the plate number and name of the cab whose driver is using Ms. H.T. Cones. Oh wait what? Really? How?
THE WISE SAMARITAN
Ms. H.T. Cones is set to alarm daily at 7:30PM and would continue to do so for 30 minutes unless you know how to properly turn her off. Mister Poor Taxi Driver happened to be on the road with a passenger when Ms. H.T. Cones started her wail. He panicked and asked Mister Nice Passenger to switch her off for him. Mister Nice Passenger is The Wise Samaritan. He felt that Ms. H.T. Cones does not belong to Mister Poor Taxi Driver. He started asking questions just to strike a conversation. All the while, he was looking at pictures, thousands of Mila's pictures, for clues on the real owner. He found an unread Viber message from Ron, took his number, and gave Ms. H.T. Cones back to the driver. Since Mister Poor Taxi Driver said a passenger sold him Ms. H.T. Cones for just P1,500, The Wise Samaritan wanted to purchase it so he can just give it back to the owner once he finds me. He didn't for the fear of being the alleged thief.
THE JOURNEY HOME
The Wise Samaritan has Ron's number (who by the way almost did not answer the call), the cab's information, and the resolve to help out. He called and gave Ron the good news. I reached out to him immediately and showed him the picture from Dropbox - it was not the same guy. So maybe Mister Poor Taxi Driver really brought Ms. H.T. Cones from someone else. I've noticed too that his taxi company is different from the one where I last saw Ms. H.T. Cones. But any information is helpful in finding someone that's lost. I still could not be thankful enough someone was willing to help a stranger, even if it was not solicited. Turns out The Wise Samaritan and I work in the same area. Same building. Same company. Two floors apart. But we are strangers. Who would have thought? He had lost a few good phones himself and just knows how it feels. If there is something, one small thing he can do, he did it. He followed his guts and used his wits and that got me Ms. H.T. Cones back.
It took a couple of days after that, a trip to Reparo Quezon City, a very tense hour of interrogation, a few minutes with a fair manager, and a whole lot of moral strength from hubs, my phone, Ms. H.T. Cones, finally found her way back to me.
-THE END-
So the moral of the story? Don't be stupid! Haha. I'm laughing now but I really was stupid. I was too negligent. I knew how important my phone was to me and realized it most when it was gone. I guess that goes for everything, whether it's phone, memory, friendship, people, anything. Most importantly, realize that a small effort to help out may do wonders for someone else. Be aware of your environment, there's a lot of things you can do to brighten someone's day. Be proactive on lending a hand. Maybe a smile is just what a person needs to lighten his burden. And when you get help, pay it forward.
To The Wise Samaritan (I haven't talked to him so I'm not sure it's ok that I publish his name) this is my long overdue thank you! Really, I wish more people will think like you do. If I was on you place, maybe I wouldn't even bother. I still owe you lunch. Or a drink.
PS.
This is not the first and last time my phone went MIA. I left it at our pedia's clinic and they thought there was a ghost when it kept on ringing. I got it back the next day.
The story above happened almost two months ago. Yup, it qualifies for Flashback Friday.
Yesterday, someone stole my phone. This time I feel it's gone for good. I'm still hoping but not waiting this time. Darn, I'm gonna miss it.
PPS.
I guess no Blogger/Bloggeroid posts for me until I get a replacement. It's high time I start using my dusty laptop. Or steal Mila's tab for a while. Did I mention I'm gonna miss my phone?
