The Case of the Missing Sandwich

It all began on a seemingly ordinary day. I awoke on a beautiful warm May day knowing that I couldn't linger long in my soft bed. I arose and made my husband's favorite breakfast: oatmeal pancakes and bacon. He ate a pile of pancakes, preparing him for the busy day ahead. He was planning to put in the day spraying crops. I was planning to continue working at a job I have been plugging away at for awhile now: that of cleaning out the cupboards, corners and dark recesses of vacated home, with the hopes of making it presentable for a new family to move into. I had the offer of some help for the day, and hurried to finish cleaning up at my house and to put together a lunch for my husband and I. I made a couple of sandwiches and added enough carrots, chips, cookies and apples to make plenty of lunch. I happily pictured us meeting up again at lunch time and taking a break while sitting outside enjoying the sunshiny day. I threw it all together in a lunch box and a bag and scurried out the door.

Who knew that a few hours later we would be in the throes of a great mystery?? My helper and I put in a couple of hours of work and were making good progress in cleaning out a couple storage rooms. My brother in law came in once to check on progress, and claimed a couple of his possessions that we had unearthed, and a little later when we heard my husband tromp down the stairs to find us, we were both thinking it was time to take a break and have some lunch. My lovely idea of lunch together sitting out in the sunshine disappeared when I discovered that my husband had already taken and eaten part of his lunch before he ever came to check on me. So I went to claim my share of the lunch and planned to go sit in the sunshine and enjoy lunch, even if I had to do it by myself. But alas! All that remained of my lovely lunch was a cookie, a few carrots and an apple! Where was my sandwich?? I looked at my husband with accusing eyes! "Did you take both sandwiches?? And why couldn't you wait and eat with me??" My husband assured me he had taken only one sandwich, and was quite sure that there was only one sandwich in the lunch box, and maybe I had really only made one, or maybe I had left it at home on the counter?? After our heated exchange, my helper asked if I'd like to come to her house and she'd fix me a sandwich, but I decided I'd better go home and see if I could find my sandwich. I was tired and hungry and well....of all the nerve, someone thinking that I couldn't even remember if I had made and packed one or two sandwiches!!

So, instead of a half hour break for lunch, I needed an hour and a half to go home and first look for my sandwich, then when I didn't find it in my refrigerator or on my counter, I made myself another sandwich, ate it, and had a little rest, and thought this situation through. What would a good detective do? He would ask me, the victim, to describe the lost (stolen!) items and then identify all the possible suspects and then try to recall the mornings events leading up to the discovery of the Missing Sandwich.

Looks delicious doesn't it?? Someone else must have thought so too!!

Next, we identify the main characters of this mystery:

This is me. I look really famished and sad, don't I? ....the classic victim. Wait a minute, you say I am suspect as well?? You wonder if my memory isn't so good, and I just think that I made two sandwiches and carefully packed them in the lunch box...that maybe I dropped it somewhere along the way....that I am pointing fingers at someone else when maybe they should be pointing back at me??

This is my husband. You know him. He works hard and often eats his lunch on the go, chomping away while he steers the sprayer or tractor around the field, his mind on the myriad of things a farmer thinks about, like: "Am I getting all these weeds? Is this wheat going to grow and thrive? Do I have time to run to town for more spray? Will my wife notice that I have absent mindedly eaten both sandwiches?" Oh, you say we have to get his side of the story? Here's what he had to say: " I couldn't choke down two of those things, and I am just sure there was only one sandwich in the lunch box when I grabbed mine and how could she be thinking I could take time to just sit out in the sunshine and eat lunch together....like I would, when she thinks I'm a thief....hmmph!"

This is my brother in law. You know him too. He's the one that made a trip through the house that fateful morning. Maybe he was hungry and had forgotten his sandwich and saw his opportunity and grabbed the sandwich and went merrily on his way. Oh, I suppose he must testify as well and have a chance to speak for himself! He says, "you know I would never do such a thing! Why are you dragging me into this mess when I just innocently happened by the crime scene?"

This was my helper that day. I'm sure you know her too and that you're quite sure she would have no motive for taking my sandwich, and in fact could make a far better and tastier sandwich, thank you very much! How dare I accuse her when she was just there that day to lend a helping hand....but then you just can't rule out anyone when there is a mystery of this magnitude, now can you??

Oh wait! There was another visitor at the house that day! You may not know her. Her name is Belle and didn't my brother-in-law just tell us about how she had stolen his sandwich the other day?? It had to be her! Oh wait, we must get her side of the story too! "Belle, what do you have to say for yourself?" "Woof, woof" she says "I'll never tell" Well, I guess maybe we'll never know....unless maybe you can tell us! Who do ya think dunnit??