I am not the most forgetful person in the world, but honestly, I have a handbag like Pandora’s Box. When I put something in it, I often forget it is there. The amount of junk that accumulates is unreal. I always plan on trying to use a smaller handbag, but it never works out that way as I never have enough room. Here is a story of the consequences of this predicament.

That year, I was in college studying music. It was the holidays, and I was spending time with one of my friends in my class. It was a beautiful day, and I felt relaxed. We decided to go out to a café, which was a thirty minutes’ drive from the city.

We got into the car and took a slow drive out. We decided to have our lunch at the café as it had tasty food, and I had been there many times. It had become my go-to café. A place that was familiar, had a small shop attached, and I loved the home baking.

We arrived and parked the car, went into the café and started looking around the shop. I enjoyed my slow browse around at everything for sale. There were candles, handmade soaps, creams, keyrings and stationery.

We strolled into the café and sat in the conservatory at a table next to the window, looking at the trees and flowers outside. We ordered what we wanted to eat and gazed out at the sun shining. The sun warmed the conservatory, and as I was so chilled, the hum of the surrounding voices of the customers at the café didn’t annoy me.

Our food arrived, and we started eating. As we enjoyed our food, a loud sound like an alarm screamed around the café. The noise startled everyone, especially me. I hate loud noises, but I tolerated it. I knew it would stop when the staff discovered what was causing it. What on earth could make that noise? However, I carried on eating, and tried to ignore it, but it was piercing my ears.

The noise continued, and the staff and the manager searched the café to find out where the noise was coming from. They tried turning off the alarm system, which didn’t work as the noise continued. I couldn’t understand how the staff could have been so stupid as not to know where the noise could have come from. Did they not know how to work their alarm system? Was it faulty? I was getting annoyed by the sound, and many of the customers were leaving. I didn’t blame them; it was ridiculous.

After a frustrating lunch, we finished, and it was time to vacate the café to pay. I couldn’t stay in the noise any longer. It was like being tortured. It had completely ruined my day. I got my bag, which was lying under the table, and marched to the till.

As I approached the till, I heard a lady behind me. ‘The noise is coming from her bag!’ she said. I took my bag off my back, which was a small rucksack, and she was correct; the noise was coming from my bag. I searched in every pocket and couldn’t find the culprit. I then searched the pocket at the front and found the small personal alarm my grandad had given me the week before. The pin was out and separated from the box of the alarm. It was screeching, and the sound increased when I removed it from my bag. I put the pin back in, and the noise stopped immediately. Everyone sighed in relief at the sound that had been deafening us all for the last thirty minutes, was a personal alarm in my bag.

Image by Roland Steinmann from Pixabay – colour adjustments by Louise.

We quickly paid, and everyone around me was laughing. I had never left a café so fast in my life. I raced through the shop and out to the car, and my friend and I looked at each other in shock. How could I forget it was there? I must have kicked my bag with my foot, which must have knocked out the pin. Driving home, I was horrified, but I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life.

Unsurprisingly, I never returned. It was definitely not my go-to café anymore, and was a place that was too familiar, yes, a place where I had made a complete idiot of myself.