The lost cell phone that wasn't

After our last Friday night pizza routine with the kids, we had a little situation that a lot of you can probably relate to. After a meal out there always seems to be something that happens, for us the biggest issue is usually leaving the to-go box behind, but this time Tim lost something a lot more near and dear to his heart...

We pushed Ray out to the car in his wheelchair, and got everybody and everything loaded, Benjamin had his possessions and we even remembered the pizza that was in the "to-go box", everyone was relaxed enjoying the nice feeling of a great evening and a full belly, Cindy put the car in reverse and was backing away from the restaurant when Tim yelled. Wait, wait, wait, has anybody got my phone!

Cindy hit the brakes throwing my head back into the headrest, and Tim is patting all of his pockets, the girls are looking through their purses, and Tim says, Last time I saw my phone it was laying on the table next to the pizza box, did anybody pick it up?

What's the matter? Cindy's dad asks. We are looking for Tim's phone, Cindy tells him. Tim's what? Phone, his what? Phone! Bone? Phone!! Oh where's his phone? We're looking for it Dad! Oh for God's sake can't these kids keep up with anything? He says.

Cindy picks up her phone and makes a call, Who are you calling? Her Dad asks. I'm calling Tim's phone. Why are you doing that, don't you know he lost it?

Elisa (Tim's wife) jumps out of the car and walks back into the restaurant. She notices that our table hasn't been cleared yet, expecting to find Tim's phone right where he left it she makes her way over to the table, the cell phone is not there.

She looks under all the discarded napkins on the table, and also checks the floor in case it was dropped and kicked underneath the table, nothing no cell phone anywhere. Thinking one of the employees may have picked it up she goes up to the counter to ask.

Now she has to wait in line because all of a sudden the New York Pizzeria is busy and there is only one person at the counter, while she waits Elisa is trying to listen for Tim's ringtone behind the counter, she knows that Cindy is calling it, this ain't her first rodeo as they say, she and Cindy have teamed up before looking for someone's lost cell phone.

Elisa has already imagined that someone behind that counter has her husband's phone and is probably going through all of his pictures, Oh No Not Tim's Pictures!, they are probably listening to his music, and ordering stuff off of Amazon on Tim's dime...She is mad now.

Back in the car everyone has settled down and stopped looking for the missing phone, Cindy and her Dad have stopped talking because Ray now understands the situation, Cindy has shut the engine off, and Benjamin has fallen asleep, the noise level in the car drops to nil, nada, zero, nothing, all of a sudden you could hear a pin drop, and guess what...

A "not so lost" cell phone.

I faintly hear a sound, a very quiet version of Tim's ringtone, I look over and see Tim's face frozen in fear as he reaches around into his back pocket and pulls out his cell phone. Oh my God! He yells as he jumps out of the car.

Elisa has just gotten to the counter and has begun asking about Tim's phone that by now she has convinced herself was stolen from the table, the clerk has denied that anyone has been out to retrieve anything from the table yet, and just before Elisa unleashes the wrath of the crazy lady looking for her stolen cell phone the front door bursts open.

Everyone turns to look at the door where Tim is peeking inside motioning for Elisa to come outside, she holds up her finger telling him to wait a minute, Tim holds his cell phone up and points to it. Elisa puts a fake smile on her face and apologizes to the clerk, she then turns back towards Tim and mouths "I hate you!" as she begins walking his way.

Tim did the only smart thing that he could at the time, he turned and ran for the car.