Photo by Becca Schultz on Unsplash

I woke up with an awful headache. The morning sunlight had streamed in through the blinds. It was pure torture, so I shut my eyes tight and felt around the bed with my hands. It wasn’t long before I realized the other half of the bed was empty.

I sprang out of bed. Where could she be? Suddenly common sense prevailed. She must have gone to the bathroom, I realized. How silly of me. I knocked on the bathroom door. No answer.

I wasn’t proud of what had happened the previous night. She had cried herself to sleep. I knew she loved him. But what could I do? What’s done is done, right?

I knew she blamed me for it. But believe me when, I say it was a big mistake. Just a big mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, right? Gosh, I love her so much. I hope she can forgive me. Man, this is our first trip together, just the two of us, and I have already made a hash of things.

I knew I couldn’t change the past, but perhaps I could do something to make the future better for her. I had stayed up a long time trying to figure out how to make amends. And then, the ringing of my cellphone had startled me out of my wits. At least, the ring had not woken her up.

“Oh thank goodness!” I had exclaimed, and as I remembered that moment, my eyes wandered to the corner of the motel room. “Oh no! Not again.” I cried out in dismay. And she hadn’t come back yet, either. I had hoped she may have hopped over to the vending machine or something. Where could she be? I had to find my girl.

I opened the closet door to get dressed, and I almost had a heart attack. “Hi, Daddy” She squealed as she jumped out of the closet and pounced on me. “I love you Daddy.” She giggled euphorically. “You found him, you found him!” She added dancing a jig waving her beloved teddy bear in the air.

“Of course, I did, Honey. I know how much you love him. But please, don’t ever pack him in a garbage bag again, when we go on trips.”

“ I won’t Daddy. I promise.” She solemnly swore. “But tell me Daddy, how did you find him?”

“Well you remember how I accidentally took Teddy out to the dumpster, thinking it was the bag with the garbage, right? And by the time we realized what had happened, the garbage truck had taken him away.”

She shuddered. “I prefer not to think of it Daddy.”

“Well, apparently when you packed Teddy, you didn't realize that one of my business cards had fallen in to the bag.”

“Oh how lucky!” she squealed.

“When the garbage man was unloading the garbage at the dump, somehow the bag with Teddy rolled off.”

“Teddy is so smart. He knew exactly what to do to get the garbage man’s attention, Daddy.” She observed.

“Absolutely. When he retrieved it, he got curious and opened it. He said, Teddy was so adorable, and so well packed, he realized someone must have made a mistake. Since the business card had my cell phone number, he was able to call me and ask if I really wanted to throw Teddy away. I told him, I would give anything to have Teddy back for you. He said, that wasn’t necessary. He just wanted to be sure you would have Teddy back. Since he lives near the motel, he offered to drop Teddy here after he finished his shift.”

“Oh! Daddy. I didn’t know garbage men could be so nice. I hope you gave him some chocolates at least.”

“I did sweetie. A Toblerone and a Hershey’s bar, from my share of course. You share is intact.”

“Oh Daddy. I am so glad Teddy is safe.” She said hugging me.

“Me too, Honey” I said patting her on the head, thinking this wasn’t such a disaster after all.

Photo by Diego Passadori on Unsplash