Missing Things

did you even notice it was lost?

"Has anyone claimed the cock ring yet?" Carl asked the next Monday when he went to get an adaptor.

Alison wasn't in. Or at least Carl didn't think she was. He hadn't seen her in the kitchen earlier, and now she wasn't getting her adaptor at her usual time. He thought about sending her a message when he got back to his desk to check on her. His perpetual worry was that she or someone else he liked would be let go and he would never know about it.

He wondered what would happen if he were let go, how long it would take for anyone to notice he was missing. Would anyone even notice that he was gone? Would they ask around, send him messages and emails?

Or would everyone shrug, say it was too bad, and go on with their day?

"I don't know," Sam said, handing Carl the box of adaptors. "I haven't passed by 42W today. But if no one has claimed it by now, I doubt anyone will. They've probably abandoned it, just like everyone's abandoned their adaptors."

"I haven't abandoned my adaptor," Carl said, rummaging through the box. "I'm still hoping I'll find it."

Sam shrugged. "Maybe you will. I doubt it, though. Someone either took it home, or its in a desk that was taken away. But there are more and more adaptors in that box every week, and fewer and fewer people are claiming them. I think most people don't care if they lose an adaptor because they know they can just come here and get one."

Carl held up an adaptor with a sparkly purple star sticker on it. "Do you know why all these adaptors have stickers on them? It seems kind of strange that there's six of them this week when there was only one last week. I don't think people are marking them so they can find them later."

"I have no idea," Sam said. "Maybe it's copycats? Or some kind of joke? I haven't really thought about it to be honest. Are you taking one with a sticker?"

"No. I don't want risk that it belongs to someone."

"Suit yourself. But they all belonged to someone once."

***

Carl took a detour to 42W on his way back to his desk. He wanted to see the cock ring for himself.

He opened the drawer and found it in a little ziplock bag. He picked up the bag to get a better look.

The cock ring was adjustable, but didn't vibrate or have any features for extra play. It was a plain, boring cock ring.

Carl was disappointed. He had expected something more exciting.

"A boring cock ring for a boring place," he said, putting it back in the drawer.

On his way back to his desk, he stopped by the desk with the post-it notes. He opened the drawer and found a reply to his message.

"How can I be having a good day when I'm stuck at the office?"

Carl laughed. He wondered if it was the same person who had answered him previously.

He took the reply off the top of the notepad and left a new message: "Are you the same person who answered me the first time?"