Bob & Marie are supposed to be arriving here today. Marie emailed to say Bob has the flu so she's coming on her own. Either way, I needed a second bed. I'd been procastinating about getting a futon for a second bed/couch. Finally, the deadline was fast approaching & I had to do something.

My friends Jennifer & Inana are giving up their San Francisco apartment and selling all their furniture. I wanted their futon. It's a convertible frame that switches from being a couch to being a real bed. It's also the bed where Inana gave birth to Akira. The futon has some sentimental value as well as utilitarian.

The only catch was how and when to pick up the futon. Jennifer & Inana are in Berlin and aren't coming back to San Francisco until February 22. (this is why they are giving up their San Francisco apartment. Why pay San Francisco rent when they're actually living in Berlin?).

The 'how' part was also problematic. Even with the roof off and creative use of tie down straps, I don't think there is any possible way to transport a futon, let alone a futon frame, in my Honda del Sol. I needed a truck. Diane has a truck. I arranged with Diane to help transport the futon on Monday afternoon.

The only catch was that I didn't have access to the apartment. I emailed Jennifer & Inana and asked if I could pick up the futon earlier rather than later. They said fine. There was someone named "Jeff" staying at the apartment. I should call him and arrange a pick up time. Naturally, I procastinated. I didn't call until the weekend had already started. Jeff didn't answer the phone so I left voice mail. I called again. There was still no answer so I left another message. Meanwhile, I started looking for my keys.

At one point, I'd had keys to Jennifer & Inana's apartment. I hadn't seen the keys in over a year, certainly before I moved. I had no idea where these keys might be. I started looking...but no luck. Monday morning, Jeff still hadn't called back. I called the office and left him a voice mail message at work. I also called the main number to see if I could find a real person in the office to ask about Jeff's whereabouts. There was no answer. I guess the company was observing President's Day.

(anyone else find it ironic that Clinton escaped being thrown out of office only a few days before President's Day?)

I kept looking for the keys. I called Diane to let her know I hadn't made contact with Jeff nor found the keys. We could go look at the apartment building, but there wouldn't be any way to get inside.

Eventually, I found the keys! Or, at least what I thought were the keys. They looked similar. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing with a bike lock key on that ring but this seemed like a familiar key ring.

(in my key-search-quest, I also found three other keys, all of which seem to be important, none of which I can identify. Unfortunately, none of them are the spare key to my car. That's still MIA)

I called Diane. She came over in her truck. We started by stopping by the offices. As I suspected, they were closed for the holiday. There was a woman at the office who thought that Jeff was out of town. She wasn't sure when he was coming back. That would explain my inability to contact him on the phone. Diane and I went to the apartment. I tried the blue key. The key went in the lock but wouldn't turn. The red key wouldn't even go in the lock! Did I have the wrong keys? The yellow key was the wrong size and, obviously, the bike lock key wasn't a match for the front door. I tried the blue key again. This time, it turned. We were inside the apartment. It was deserted.

We made quick work of getting the futon out the door and into the truck. I left a note for Jeff letting him know that the futon was gone. This was in case he somehow missed the fact that a major piece of furniture was now missing. He was going to come home from his trip and find a note from someone he'd never met, letting him know that I'd taken the futon (and left the TV/VCR/other electronic equipment). Diane & I got the futon back to my house. I now have a spare bed which will mostly function as a couch in the office/TV room. The house is coming together.

Stacey