The Case of Maya and Miguel

This is a letter received from my brother and sister in law. Dear Brian and Angie,

Missy and I stumbled across a random photo in the glove box of our Explorer. After careful examination of the clues and facts we have concluded that you two are responsible for the practical joke. It all started about a few weeks after your last visit to Utah. Missy and I were at a drive-in movie theater when we needed to get a flashlight out of the glove box. As I was fiddling around in the glove box trying to find the flashlight I knocked the glove box loose spilling it's contents all over the floor. Without much light to see, I carefully tried to reassemble all of the items and place them back where they belong. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like a photograph. "That's strange" I thought to myself. I don't remember ever putting a photo in the glove box. "I wonder what it is a picture of?". As I pick up the photo I see that it is a woman lovingly embracing a dog. "Could this photograph belong to the previous owner of this vehicle and it has been stuck behind the glove box all these years?". Turning the picture over I see it has a message written on the back:

"Dear Brett and Missy,

It was great to run into you and catch up over dinner last weekend. I can't believe how long it has been since we saw you last. Thought you might want a picture of our daughter Maya and dog Miguel. Keep in Touch".

I must be losing my mind. I didn't know old age could catch up to some one so fast. I couldn't for the life of me think who would have given us this photograph. I definitely don't remember going out to eat with anyone recently. Maybe this picture has been in here for a long time. Wait a second there is a date stamped on the back of the photo from when the picture was printed. Lets have a look. May 25, 2010. Whoa this keeps getting weirder. That means we would have had to had dinner with them within the last month or so. My mind wouldn't completely forget about it so fast would it, and why would it be in the glove box of our Explorer, we hardly ever drive it anymore. Wait a second. Brian and Angie had borrowed our car recently to travel down to my parent's house during their visit to Utah. Is this their mischievous and cunning side coming out? It has to be. I can't think of anyone else who has had access to our car recently. Lets take another look at the written message. The handwriting looks familiar. It almost looks like mine, but a lot nicer and more readable. Is handwriting a hereditary trait? Who knows, lets go with that. That gives us two clues - we found the photo shortly after you had borrowed our vehicle and the handwriting looked familiar. Might not hold up in a court of law but I'm going to go ahead and call this case closed.

You really had us going for a little while that night. Missy and I were scratching our heads desperately trying to figure out who the photo could have possibly come from. Well done. Oh and if you didn't leave the photo then Missy and I will really be confused.

-Brett and Missy

Okay. So maybe I did find a random photograph in the parking lot of a Safeway grocery store in Cedar City. I looked around for the owner and when the owner wasn't anywhere to be found I ask myself, "Self, who could benefit from this photograph?" The answer was clear as day. Me. I could benefit from this handy photograph.

Oh boy that was fun. I was laughing so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks as I wrote the note (yes, my handwriting is bad, like a boy and apparently like Brett's). The worst part was that we could never tell him or probe to ask if they found it or they'd know it was us. I was brought to tears again reading Brett's email tonight. As I read, I thought the fact that the glove box fell apart was fantastic! If I had known the glove box was going to fall off, I could have played it differently. Anyway, they are two dang good detectives! The date stamp on picture!! Brilliant!!

Now the thing that is still killing me? We've done something like this before. But for the life of me, I can't remember who we scammed. I think it was to my brother Jason and something to do with an old girlfriend but I can't quite put my finger on what it was. He's always a fun guy to mess with. (J - do you remember what we did to you? I need another good laugh tonight.)

Sincerely,

Friend or Foe

(you decide)