Losing My Keys

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends Angela and Ashley at Starbucks to catch up.  Angela started telling us a story of the neighborhood where she grew up that had an abandoned building in the woods with a cemetery beside it. She said that back then only half of the building was standing and some of the graves in the cemetery had become so level with the surface of the ground that broken caskets were visible.  Of course I was immediately intrigued and wanted to go check it out.  Angela ran around these woods almost 20 years ago so the chance of anything being there today was slim to none.  The only thing I thought could possibly be visible was the cemetery.  We made plans to check it out that same weekend.

That Saturday we met at Starbucks (of course) and then had lunch at La Hacienda.  Nothing like some good Mexican food before a hike in the woods, right?  After grabbing post-lunch coffee we headed out to Angela's old neighborhood and parked near where she thought the old building used to stand.  She wasn't sure how far into the woods it was because when you are a kid your sense of time and distance are slightly skewed.  We parked my Jeep and started walking up the path and headed into the woods.  Most of the woods were open enough where you could walk with no problem but there were a few times where we had to bushwhack to get through.  We walked and walked and walked and didn't see much of anything.  We checked the map on the phone several times and changed our direction based on what Angela could remember about the location.

After a while we stopped and rested on a fallen tree.  I decided I wanted to check out an area just beyond where we were because I thought I saw a small clearing..  I soon regretting my decision because I met up with some thick sticker bushes which scratched my hands and also snagged my clothing.  Once I got through those I thought I was okay... or so I thought.  I was walking toward a large tree and stepped forward with my left foot.  When my foot landed on the ground it immediately sank into the earth up to my knee.  I dropped so hard and fast that I screamed.  It scared the crap out of me!  Next thing I know I hear Tabitha barreling through the sticker bushes to come to my rescue.  When she reached me she had bloody scratches all over her arms but didn't seem to care.  She just kept saying "are you okay? are you okay?"  By that time I had pulled myself out of the ground, brushed myself off and was fine. When we got back to Angela and Ashley they said "she didn't even hesitate!  When she heard you scream she took off!"  Awww, my hero!  Poor thing was all scratched up from her heroic efforts though.

It was starting to get dark and I think we were all becoming frustrated at not finding the cemetery or old building.  There is a brand new subdivision that has been built over half of the woods and Angela thinks they must have plowed over everything to build it.  How can that happen?  I have searched the internet and there is no mention of any cemetery in that area.  I think I need to contact the town preservation society and ask around to see if it rings a bell to any of the members.  There has to be some information and/or documentation about it somewhere.





After a long walk we finally reached the car and we were all about to collapse.  Tabitha went into her pockets to get the keys but the search for them lasted a little too long and her hand checked one too many pockets for my comfort.  I said "you do have the keys, don't you??" She kept feeling around and then said "No".  I thought she was joking so I asked her again.  She said "No".  I said "swear on my parents graves that you do not have the keys" and she did.  Holy crap.  We covered so much area in the woods I knew that we were never going to find them but we went back to look anyway.  Angela said she thought Tabitha dropped them when she ran off to rescue me.  I was pretty surprised at how much I didn't care that she lost them.  She thought I was pissed at her but I thought it was kind of funny. 

 So... we retraced our steps to no avail.  The keys were lost forever to the woods of the missing cemetery.

While walking back to the Jeep we heard a low, deep male voice say something.  We stopped in our tracks and just looked at each other.  One of us said "What?" and we heard the voice again... "You are walking in front of my deer stand."  Again, we looked at each other and one of us said "Okay, sorry!  please don't shoot us - we are leaving!"  We started walking and next thing we know there is this guy walking up to us with a shotgun over his shoulder.  All I could think of was to thank the universe that he didn't think we were some plump, tasty deer!!  The next thought that crossed my mind was the fact that we were in the woods with this stranger who has a shotgun.  I couldn't wait to get back to my car!  This guy starts telling us about his kills and pulled out his phone to show us some dead deer and hog photos.  I just said "I really don't want to see them!"  Gross.

 

After getting back to the somewhat safety of my Jeep I sent Robyn a text and told her what happened hoping she could run to the house and retrieve my spare key.  She was on her way to her second job and said to give her a few minutes.  She texted me back and said she got the okay from her boss to be late so I sent her the map with the coordinates from my phone since we were in the woods and probably difficult to find.  About 45 minutes later she arrived with the spare key.  Hallelujah! 

When we were heading to go search for the missing keys Angela and I were lagging behind and she whispered to me that I just won the Golden Ticket and now when I'm in the doghouse or want something I can always say "Remember that time you lost my keys in the woods?"  Excellent point!!  That Michael Kors Kempton tote WILL be mine!!