Car Keys "Lost" on State Highway - Found

The sole purpose of a ringfinder, is to find the lost item, not to judge. Believe me, we’ve heard it all…

I’ll call him Bob.

Bob phoned me just on sunset, « I’ve lost my car keys on the side of the road… »

He was just down the road, so 15 minutes later I pulled up behind their car.

Bob came up to meet me while his partner sat in the car.

As he told me the first version of the story, the Search and Rescue training kicked in and I was assessing the scene and the behavioral profiling. My very first question was, « Were they thrown? » with a knowing grin.

He sheepishly admitted that maybe there was some velocity involved, during a ‘discussion’ with his partner.

Personally, I don’t care if it was thrown in anger, or even lost through some embarrassing and less than rational action, but please do be honest with the guy who turns up to look for it for you.

The side of the highway at the bottom of a hill was loaded with trash signals from litter which had washed down over the years, and it was really hard graft with signals coming from all over.

I jumped the nearby farm fence and cleared the extents that they might have gone into the neighboring paddock, nothing found so it was back into the trash…

Changing up the gear to cope with the many drink cans and bits of car etc, I started a more focussed search, and 15 minutes later just on dark I held up the keys.

I got a « No Way! » from his partner as she emerged from the car, and it was high fives all round.

I can only imagine the conversation as they drove away…