Lost and Found text

Story 1: Lost and Found

Lost and Found by Renee Dawn

I touched my ear and touched it again to make sure. Yes, it was missing – one of the pair of earrings¹ my son, Jack, had just given to me for Christmas a few hours before. I was so disappointed.² The earrings were very lovely, so I hated to lose one so soon. Also, I appreciated Jack’s choice of gift, which showed he knew exactly what I like. The earrings were special to me for so many reasons. And of course, the last thing I wanted to do was tell my son that I had lost the gift he had given me just a few hours before. 

Because it was Christmas, my family had driven 300 miles (500 km) to the home of my husband’s family. That is where I discovered the missing earring. The first thing I did when I noticed it missing was to search and search inside the car, but no luck – the earring was not there. Then I called my parents to ask if they had found an earring when I was dropping off our family dog to stay with them while we were away. My parents looked all over their house for the earring, but they could not find it. My dad even went to our house to look for the earring there. No luck – no earring.

Two days later, my family and I returned to our home in Chicago. I looked in our house again, up and down, everywhere I could, but no earring. I checked the car one more time, but by that time, I had given up on finding the earring again. Finally I decided to find out where Jack had bought the earrings so I could secretly replace them, and he would not find out I had lost one. As I walked out to the car to look inside it one more time, suddenly a silver flash caught my eye. I saw something gleaming³ on the bumper⁴ of the car. I got closer and bent down to see what it was. Miraculously,⁵ it was the missing earring! It had ridden over 600 miles (1000 km) on the outside bumper of the car without falling off! I could not believe my eyes or my luck! Finally, I told my family what happened. No one could believe that the earring had ridden 600 miles and had not fallen off the outside bumper of the car! What an incredible story! Jack and I were so happy – I had the earrings that he had given me back. I did not have to buy a new pair or disappoint Jack by telling him about the loss. After that, I bought new earring backs for the earrings that were tighter than the first ones so I would not lose them again. From that time on, I treasured the earrings and took very special care of them. That was five years ago, but I still have the earrings today. They are one of my most precious⁶ possessions.

Glossary

1. earring (noun) - a piece of jewelry for the ear

2. disappoint (verb) - to feel sad or unhappy about something

3. gleaming (adjective) - shining

4. bumper (noun) - a bar fixed on the front or back of a car to protect it if it hits anything

5. miraculously (adverb) - like a miracle; surprisingly, incredible 

6. precious (adjective) - very special and dear; extremely valued and appreciated