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Aug
12
“I’m feeling lost and found.”
-Taken by Trees
Several years ago a couple in their seventies used to come to the park near my house with metal detectors. They’d show up about once a week. Around their waists they both wore small aprons with pockets to collect their finds; the kind a waitress might use for tips. I liked the idea that they were working so quickly they needed to stash their winnings on-the-go, heedless of what they’d dug up until later. Since I didn’t usually have much to do in the evenings, I sat and watched them whenever they showed up.
In this way, I became increasingly curious about them. They never found anything in the park. I couldn’t understand why they came back to my park so consistently. Occasionally one of them would fixate on a spot, take out a small object shaped like a grill lighter, and dig it into the wood chips, but they never retrieved anything.
Finally one day, feeling creepy, I decided to follow them to their next site, and then to the next. I accidentally followed them home. I had never done anything this obsessive, not even after Lucy left me. I never followed her anywhere. So, I figured out their route. They went twice a week. They had all kinds of spots, most of them pretty successful, but my park was the only one they hit every week.
Because they never found anything there, but came back every week, I figured that the park had some special meaning for them. They used to go there in their youth. They met there. Maybe they used to bring their children there. Lucy and I used to swing there in the evenings. It was a nice park.
I was impressed with my tailing skills until I got arrested. I couldn’t explain my actions, which counted against me. Eventually the couple asked to speak with me. An officer accompanied me to their home, where I sat on their couch and drank iced tea. I’d expected their house to be decorated with their finds. I expected metal detecting to be the substance of their lives. The only evidence of the hobby was the grill lighter shaped object left out on the counter. I explained how I’d gotten interested in them, and finally asked what it was that brought them back to the park. “Have you ever found anything there?” I asked.
“No,” said Mr. Trumble.
“Then why do you come back?” I asked
“We come back,” Mrs. Trumble broke in, “because the wood chips are so easy to dig in. As soon as anything shows up there, we’ll find it, and without any effort. The digging’s the part I hate the most.”
“Me too,” said Mr. Trumble. They smiled at me. “Any other questions?”
I asked them what the grill lighter thing was. They dropped the charges.
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MP3: Taken by Trees - “Lost and Found”
-Sven Gull lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife, Alma. He’s never followed anyone anywhere. The thought of it bugs him.
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