Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Recherche du Chapeau Perdu

Tis the season of loss.

You know about my computer. (And by the way, I've already replaced it with a sleek, bargain-basement iBook, which I shall keep dustcloth covered and far from food and drink and grimies for its life.) Two pairs of cheap sunglasses. One credit card. But last night I sustained the most devastating loss yet: my hat.

That conspicuous white sheepskin number always made me feel a bit like Julie Christie in Dr. Zhivago. I donned it whenever the thermostat dipped below 40 degrees. I engaged in pre-wedding bhangra in a parking lot in December, clad only in a sari and my hat. Construction workers whistled at me when I wore it.

When Jonathan picked me up from school last night, I had it on. When we left The Best Pizza Place in the World last night, I didn't. Four big slices inside my belly, I mustered as much alacrity as I could and waddled back to the restaurant. Bob the Waiter said he'd not seen it. It was not in Jonathan's car, nor was it on the sidewalk where he picked me up.

Questionable motives lurk all around: Bob the Waiter, for one, is bald as a pin.
All my coolest girlfriends coveted the hat. Jonathan despised it. But I don't believe any of them would lack the sense of humanity required take Zhivago from me. I believe the Hat Demon done snatched it.

He has struck before. Once, with my first white sheepskin hat (whose loss caused me to buy Zhivago from eBay last year); then, with an black wool gizmo tricked out with under-chin-ties and a pom-pom.

Poor me, bereft and bareheaded.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

the hat demon also stole my new sneakers, 3 digital cameras, four leather gloves, untold hairs from my daddy's head and nearly a haitian election but this time he's gone too far!
pooja without her sheep head will be mere sheep brains, return that hat!

4:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry about your hat. If it helps, the pizza place does indeed look amazing. I think maybe the most interesting pizza I've ever had was one with canadian bacon, pineapple, dried cranberries, and roasted cashews. Seeing dried cranberries offered as a pizza topping anywhere else warms my heart.

5:15 PM  

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