Missing Pieces

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

I knew an elderly widow who drove her family crazy about lost items. At first, it was an array of them, which sent her children and grandchildren scurrying to places she might have left them. But, as the years went on, the amount dwindled, until there were only two.

The first of these was her husband’s wedding ring, which she was sure she’d dropped in a church while attending service one Sunday. Her children went back to the church with her and searched, but turn...