Friends Part Deux: The Epic of the Lost Key

So I have this friend named Aj Wolfie who was staying with another friend of ours for about a month this summer. The way she explained it, since she wasn't going to be staying at this place very long (which is regrettable because it was a pretty awesome place with a hedgehog [even though he didn't like Aj very much] and great decor and an awesome roommate) she decided that she would just carry the key around in her wallet instead of putting it on her key ring. In her defense, it's really hard to get those keys on a key ring. I'd avoid it if I could. Anyway.

My friend's roommate Smalls was going to be out of town for the weekend. Smalls lives far to the west, about a five hour drive from Hapel Chill, where our story takes place. Hapel Chill, it should be noted, is one of the best places on Earth, with the nicest people and most beautiful campus, not to mention promising sports seasons where they will not (pleasepleasepleaseplease) lose to their non-rivals on Wolfie's senior night football game. I should also mention that this story takes place in beautiful North Carolina. You'll appreciate how wonderful it is only after you've left it for a year or two. Now that the scene is set, we can return to our narrative.

With Smalls far away, Wolfie had no way to get to church on Sunday morning. She bribed her former roommate, C-Stine, with a free breakfast if she would come retrieve Wolfie from her momentary lodgings. C-Stine complied and the two set off in C-stine's borrowed car, since her usual car, Rafiki, was in the shop after having bested a contest with a sleek black wimpy car that didn't pay attention to the important things in life, such as stop lights. They drove to Panera for a quick bagel and then C-Stine dropped Wolfie off at University Presbyterian University Lutheran University Baptist a Methodist Church. Wolfie remembers really enjoying the service, though she thought it was a little awkward coming in because she entered the church from the back instead of her normal front seat. She also had to climb over someone to help usher, but it all worked out in the end.

After the service, Wolfie went to meet her friend, Mary Jane, a red head, for brunch. Mary Jane was in town for the afternoon before heading down the road to meet her contra dancing partner and as she and Wolfie hadn't seen each other in a while, they walked down to Panera and had a good long chat in a booth across from where Wolfie had sat earlier that morning with C-Stine.

Wolfie then had to go to work at the planetarium because apparently weekend shifts are hard to fill in the summer in a college town and Mary Jane came along, having to wait a few hours before she could head out of town. Wolfie was helping a new tech train and spend most of her time before the shows started walking around the building pointing out random quirks and secret passageways. The afternoon shows went well and Wolfie clocked out to go meet her friend, Hermione, to watch a musical at her apartment. On her way out the door, she remembered hearing a metallic clink as something fell to the floor from the table in the student area, but she thought nothing of it.

Hermione had a genius plan which included Squirt, Red Vines, Reeses Pieces and Double Stuff Oreos and pizza. The musical, an online masterpiece of a sequel, often took a while to load, so even though they started the musical around 6, it was 11:30 before they finished the package of their favorite way to say Red Wines in a German accent and were heading back to Wolfie's apartment, since she had to teach a camp the next day. Wolfie picked up her bag at an odd angle in the darkened hallway, but the trip to the car and then to Wolfie's home was successful.

Outside the door, Wolfie fumbled in her bag while Hermione waited to see her safely in the house. In searching for her key, she discovered a hole in the lining of her bag and that her wallet had been left open since her second trip to Panera. Figuring that the key was in the lining of her bag, she motioned for Hermione to go home and sat down on her darkened front steps to search through her bag.

Five dimes, an empty purse and fifteen minutes later, Wolfie called Hermione back. She remembered the clinking noise and hypothesized that her missing key was at the planetarium. Hermione drove her over there and together they searched the darkened halls and hidden passageways of the planetarium for the missing key. The metallic noise, upon closer inspection, was a drill bit. Unsuccessful in their endeavors, Wolfie placed a few phone calls to C-Stine and Smalls to see what they could come up with. Smalls was helpful- she provided a phone number for maintenance but also suggested that the door was easily unlocked using a credit card. Armed with the erstwhile keys, Hermione and Wolfie headed back once again to Wolfie's apartment  while C-Stine searched her car for the key with the aid of a flashlight.

Many attempts and that's what she said jokes, not to mention a few exclamations of Alohamora, were wasted on the recalcitrant door. The maintenance man was phoned and the two friends retreated from blood-thirst mosquitoes into the safety of Hermione's car where they listened to wonderful music and jumped for the car door handles every time someone pulled into the parking lot in front of Wolfie's apartment, which was more frequently than expected for approaching two in the morning on a summer Monday. The maintenance man finally arrived in a beat up red pickup truck and let Wolfie into her apartment for the night. She bid her good friend Hermione farewell and thanks and fell almost immediately asleep, determined to search for the key more thoroughly on the morrow.

... To be continued.