Lost & Found
Collected from the classified section of the Harlow County Courier, a weekly paper that served four farm towns until it ceased publication. Listings are free; the column ran every Thursday. These are a selection from a single year, in order. I’ve left out most of the dogs.
April 6
LOST: Brown leather wallet, near Feed & Seed on Main. Sentimental photos inside. Reward. Call Dale, 4-2281.
FOUND: Set of keys on a blue lanyard, Methodist church lot. Claim at the Courier office.
LOST: Our cat Biscuit, orange tabby, very friendly, County Road 9 near the Hollins bridge. Kids heartbroken. 4-3307.
April 20
FOUND: Orange tabby, friendly, by the Hollins bridge. Very wet. Has been asking to go back outside. Call 4-1916.
FOUND: One child’s rubber boot, red, size 11, standing upright on the gravel bar under Hollins bridge. Dry inside. Left on the Courier steps.
May 4
LOST: Gold wedding band, engraved inside “R & J Always.” At the Grange pancake breakfast, or between there and home on Route 4. Please call Ruth, 4-2675.
FOUND: Gold wedding band, engraved inside, on the center line of Route 4 near mile marker 6, set down very carefully on its edge, as if someone had stood it up there. Call 4-0418.
LOST: Our cat Biscuit, again. Came back from Hollins bridge not quite right. Got out again. Please do not bring her back. 4-3307.
May 25
FOUND: Several pairs of shoes, adult and child’s sizes, lined up neatly in the ditch on County Road 9 near the Hollins bridge, toes facing the water. Dry inside. Claim at the Courier office.
LOST: Sound of the creek at Hollins bridge. Used to hear it from our porch every night. Has not been heard since Tuesday. Anyone? 4-1170.
June 8
FOUND: The sound of the creek at Hollins bridge. It is in the root cellar at the old Pruett place on Hollins Road. Have not gone in. 4-1916.
LOST: Our boy, Emmett, age 6, red rubber boots, last seen on the gravel bar under Hollins bridge Sunday afternoon. Sheriff’s office has been notified. Please, anyone. Call Carol or Dale, 4-2281.
June 15
FOUND: Boy, about 6, standing by himself in the middle of County Road 9 at the Hollins bridge at 3 a.m. Barefoot. Dry. Very calm. Did not want to get in the truck. Kept asking what day it was. Taken to the sheriff’s office. 4-1916.
THANK YOU to everyone who helped look for our Emmett. He is home. We will not be answering questions. —Carol & Dale
June 29
LOST: The second Thursday in June. Our whole family has no memory of it and the calendar page is missing. If anyone has it, please contact the Courier office.
FOUND: The second Thursday in June. In a coffee can on the gravel bar at Hollins bridge. It is not what you would want. Will not be returning it to anyone. Have reburied.
LOST: Emmett’s other boot. He says he left it with “the lady” so she would know him. Please leave it where it is. 4-2281.
July 13
FOUND: Boy’s rubber boot, red, size 11, on the hood of our truck, which was parked in our own locked barn. Wet. Not with water. Will hold until claimed. 4-1916.
LOST: Our reflections, all four of us, in the bathroom mirror. Started Tuesday. Doesn’t hurt. Kids think it’s funny. 4-3307.
July 27
FOUND: Four reflections, standing in the shallows under Hollins bridge at dusk, facing away. Would not turn around when called. Were waving, I think, to someone farther out. 4-1916.
LOST: Patience. To whoever keeps leaving shoes on our porch: we know which ones are ours. Stop. 4-2281.
August 10
NOTICE: County Road 9 is closed at the Hollins bridge until further notice. Please do not attempt to cross on foot. Please do not answer if called by name from the water. —Harlow County Highway Dept.
FOUND: Hollins bridge. It is on Main Street outside the Feed & Seed. Was not there last night. Has a gravel bar under it. There is no water under it, but you can hear the creek. 4-0418.
August 24
LOST: Our boy Emmett, age 6. Again. Went out barefoot during the night. Left the red boot on his pillow. He has been asking every night for the lady. Do not look for him. Do not call. We know where he is. We are going to sit with him there. —Carol & Dale
September 7
LOST: The Fennimores. Carol, Dale and Emmett. If anyone has seen them, please contact the Courier office.
FOUND: Several pairs of shoes, two adult sizes and one child’s, lined up on the gravel bar under the Hollins bridge on Main Street, toes facing where the water would be. Dry. Will hold until claimed.
September 21
FOUND: One wallet, brown leather, sentimental photos inside. Has been in the creek a long time. Most of the photos are of a little boy in red boots. In the last ones he is standing in the creek with a lady, and she is holding his hand. You can’t see her face. She is very tall. There are more of these photos in the wallet than there were. Every time I open it, there are more.
Taking it back to the bridge tonight. If you are reading this and you knew the Fennimores, I am sorry. I don’t know where else to put it. —4-1916
October 5
(No Lost & Found column was printed in this issue.)
October 12
FOUND: Harlow County. If you are reading this, you are in it. It is all on the gravel bar now, under the bridge. Will hold until claimed.
The Courier ceased publication with the October 12 issue. I checked: the Hollins bridge on County Road 9 is still there, a narrow concrete span over a shallow creek. I didn’t get out of the car. There are no shoes on the gravel bar. But I could hear the water from the road, very clearly, though the windows were up, and I could hear something else under it, a woman’s voice, patient, kind, calling a name I’m not going to write down.