the Saturday Breakfast Serial part 5

Read parts 1 through 4 here.

The Desk Part 5

       I searched the night stand, the floor and even the bed thoroughly.  It’s probably in the pocket of my silk robe, I thought.

       With that thought, I froze in mid step.  “I don’t have a silk robe!” I said out loud.  I sat down hard on the bed and tried to piece together the hazy fragments of what happened the night before.

       I remembered the knocking sound which woke me up, but there hadn’t been anyone there.  I remembered putting on a silk robe that I didn’t own.  I could still feel the warmth of it and the way it felt on my skin.  I had never come into contact with silk fabric of that quality before.  I caressed the skin on my arms at the memory of it.

       I remembered finding the journal and…”Ginger Tea,” I said aloud. There was no cup on the night stand.

       I hopped up off the bed and strode to the kitchen.  I knew it!  There was no cup in the sink waiting to be washed, nor in the dish drainer.  Only the dishes from breakfast this morning.

       I went into the living room and opened the desk.  There was no journal lined up with the other books and papers and no space where it may have been.

       Closing the desk, I went back into the kitchen, poured myself another cup of coffee, and sat down at the kitchen table staring out of the window.  I was in a bit of a daze.  Was it really all just a dream?  If so, it was the most vivid dream I had ever had.  I grabbed a nearby notebook and pen and began writing down everything I could remember from the night before.

       Closing the notebook, I looked at the clock and realized it was about the time I usually start my work day.  Working from home has its advantages and I went down the hall to my office.  Checking my appointment book, I realized I was due at a conference call in about 10 minutes.  “Just in time,” I muttered under my breath gratefully. 

       I spent the morning on business and didn’t break for lunch until later than usual, wanting to wrap everything up before breaking off.  I knew once I left my office, I would be far too distracted to get any more work done this afternoon.

       At 2:30, I closed things down for the day and went in to make some lunch.  I was ravenous, but made myself a quick sandwich with a little left over soup from the night before.

       I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus on the food.  I have the rest of the afternoon to spend with the desk, I thought to myself, and settled in to enjoy my lunch.

       Twenty minutes later, as I was clearing the lunch dishes, I found myself confronted with a sink still full of unwashed breakfast things.  I sighed.  Filling the sink with hot soapy water, I got down to the business of washing dishes.

       With all my work out of the way, I felt free to tackle the desk.  I brought the empty tea cart with me, having in mind to clear out the entire contents and spread them out on the cart so I could see everything clearly.  I pulled up a chair, opened the lid and began pulling out packets and ledgers one at a time.  As I leafed through each one, I would set it aside on the tea cart.  

       When I was finished, I had an almost empty desk and an assortment of curios and papers sorted into piles on the cart.  

       The last thing to come out of the desk was a wooden box which fit exactly under the shelves of cubbies.  It looked like the rest of the built in features of the desk, only it slipped right out of it’s spot with an ornate little pull that matched the other drawer pulls.  Because of the pull, it looked like a drawer when it was in place, but it appeared to be a solid box.  Perhaps it was just a wooden riser, to place ink bottles on when one was writing letters, I mused.  It had every appearance of having been used for that purpose, judging by the stains, rings and other discolorations on the surface.

       An inspiration came into my thoughts which caused me to slide the box all the way out of its cubby.  Still nothing revealed itself to my eye.  I leaned over to get a good look inside the space it had come from thinking maybe something was tucked away behind it.  I sighed in disappointment at the empty recess.  

       I don’t know what caused me to want to look at the back of the box.  Just a whim perhaps, but on the back of the box was a small key hole.

Join me next Saturday for another installment of the Saturday Breakfast Serial.