STORY LINE 1: Three years ago, I bought a Subaru Forester - my first new car - that, among other nifty features, had a ceiling console above the rear-view mirror where one could store a pair of glasses and a garage-door remote. I never got in the habit of using those compartments with their flip-down doors, and pretty much forgot about them. Then one day in late May or early June, I must have looked at that garage-door remote holder and thought, "let's give it a go." So I placed the remote inside, closed the compartment door and went on my way.

STORY LINE 2: One day in late May or early June, I noticed that my garage-door remote was missing. I searched through a lot of boxes, thinking I had absent-mindedly tossed it in one of them after walking into the house. I scoured the garage, closets, everywhere. I got in the habit of leaving my car outside; if a big storm was coming, I'd leave the car idling in the driveway, run around to the side door and open the garage door from the inside.

I had started to give up on ever finding the remote. I thought I might have accidently pitched it in the trash while cleaning out my car. But last week, with cold weather and snow getting ever closer, I got new resolve to find the remote. I tore into boxes, emptied closets, left no cabinet door unopened. Nothing.

STORY LINES COLLIDING: This morning I went to get some items from the car, and as I was sitting in the driver's seat flipping through papers, I happened to glance up. I saw the garage-door remote compartment. As I reached up to open the door, I thought to myself, "no way, it couldn't be...." It was.

The end.