Hostage Crisis Day 114

Final Coat

Note: My Jocularious.com column this week takes on a serious subject.  The terror of hostage taking.  Grab a box of tissues and read further at your emotional risk. 

Hostage ordeals take a terrible toll on everyone involved.  The fear, the uncertainty, the mounting anxiety.  Each passing day a nightmare.  Don’t think for a moment that the terror is diminished because the victim is a winter coat.  True, no one’s life is actually in imminent danger.  But the fear of losing a fine article of clothing is no less traumatic.  We’re not talking about a mere windbreaker, or even a light sweater.  Let me emphasize, the offense here involves a fine, name brand wool garment.  And most importantly, and especially tragically, MY WOOL GARMENT.

Let me calm down and explain.

In December, I braved subzero temperatures to attend a formal function at the Valley River Inn, in Eugene, Oregon.  I wore the wonderful knee length wool overcoat my beautiful wife had given me as a gift.  After the function, I walked back to the coatrack to retrieve my garment, but it was gone.  A coat which looked similar remained hanging on the rack.  At first glance, I even thought it was my coat.  But it was slightly smaller, and had a scarf in the right pocket.  But my absolute faith in human nature gave me confidence that all was not lost.  I told my wife, who was suffering a heart attack and practically on the floor going into convulsions, that the crisis would soon subside.  I assured her that the person would quickly discover his mistake.  He would discover his scarf missing and my gloves in its place, and the light bulb would go off.  He would make haste in returning my coat.  I had the staff at the hotel secure one of my business cards to the coat he had left behind, to remind them to call me when he showed up to make the exchange.

In the meantime, I would stay busy remaining calm and telling myself not to obsess about it.  THAT WAS 114 DAYS AGO!  My faith in human nature is now, on a scale of 1-100, a negative one-thousand.  In fact, if the size of my faith in human nature were symbolized by a breed of dog, it would be a hairless, miniature Chihuahua, shivering naked in the snow.

In the interim, I have identified three possibilities for the delay:

  1. The coat-napper hasn’t realized the mistake yet.  Remember that the one he left behind is slightly smaller than mine.  People tend to get heavier not thinner.  Perhaps he thinks he’s lost weight?  Perhaps a placebo effect has put a jaunty spring in his step.  He’s feeling better about himself.
  2. The coat-napper has realized the mistake, but figures it’s an even swap.  His stinky Pierre Cardin with more than a few miles on it (I believe you can pick one up for a song at JCPenny’s), versus my freshly dry-cleaned Nautica.
  3. There were people at the event from both the United States and South Korea.  There is an even chance my coat is hanging in Seoul.  If North Korea smashes through the DMZ and overtakes Seoul, believe me, the first thing Kim Jong-un is going to “liberate” is my coat.

It is finally time for me to make my position clear.  To state it plainly and publicly.  I am willing to negotiate with terrorists.  Yes, I am fully aware that this puts the other garments in my wardrobe at risk, but I am out of options.  Dear coat-napper, send me your terms and I will meet them.  End this reign of terror.

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