The lost birds²⁴

When I finished drawing, I went to a gift shop fifty metres away to buy a T-shirt for one of my disciples that said “Titan” or something like that, since that particular disciple likes this kind of thing.

When I came back to my seat, I saw that my notebooks were missing! One contained 5,000 bird drawings and the other had 3,000 drawings.

I went to the nearest ticket counter and asked the lady there, “Did you see anybody take my notebooks?”

She said, “Perhaps the trash collector took them and threw them away.”

I said, “They are so important.”

She said, “Ask the trash collector.”

Then I went to another counter. The man there was so nice. He said he would page the trash collector. Finally the trash collector came. He was Puerto Rican. Unfortunately, he did not speak much English and the man who was helping me did not speak Spanish. He was calling the Puerto Rican an idiot, while the poor fellow looked so innocent. He definitely was not the one who had taken the notebooks.

Then I went back to my original seat. By then, the elderly black lady who likes me so much had come to her counter, which is near where I sit. I said to her, “You have to help me.”

She said, “Of course!”

I told her, “I have lost two notebooks.”

Then she started searching for my notebooks here, there and everywhere. Finally, she found my notebooks on somebody else’s counter. I was so moved and grateful.