Lost and Found

I was thinking about the time. About the train we needed to catch that afternoon. So it wasn't until we had walked through the forest for 40 minutes that I realized I had left my camera on a wall by the public toilets at the last mountain viewpoint. I had just reached for it to take photos of my friends picking their way from rock to rock across a stream and discovered it wasn't there.

What to do?

I certainly didn't want to walk all the way back up that mountain to the viewing sight to see if it was still there. But who to call? Oh well, I couldn't worry about it then. I'd have to wait until we stopped for lunch.

The forest was beautiful. Sunlight dappled through the leaves. Birds and cicadas were singing. The weather was perfect. After a couple hours, we reached our sheltered picnic spot. I pulled out my smartphone, found the viewpoint on google maps, and then located the shrine next door. I called the number for the shrine.

"So sorry to bother you, but I left my camera on the wall by the toilet at 10:30 this morning. Do you think you could take a look and see if it's still there? I'm really sorry to bother you."

"I'm busy now, but I can check it later. What's your phone number? I'll call you back."

Great. I ate my sandwich. Just as I had finished, my phone chirped.

"Moshi-moshi," I answered.

"Hi, it's the lady from the shrine. I checked the wall but there is no camera. Why don't you call the police? Maybe someone turned it in."

"Which police station should I call? Do you know?"

"The one in front of the station."

"Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help."

Google to the rescue again. I found the police station, gave them a call, and told them my story.

"Yes, someone turned in a camera found at that viewpoint this morning. You'll need to send us a copy of your ID and some sort of proof that that is your camera. It would be bad to send you someone else's camera, right? We get an awful lot of cameras and smart phones turned in here. Once we receive your fax, after the weekend, we will send your camera to you COD, is that OK? Is it alright for you to pay for the postage?"

"Of course! Thank you very much!"

Five days later, I had my camera. Thank you, anonymous person who turned it in to the police. Thank you, kind woman at the shrine. And thank you, helpful policeman.