The Peek-a-Boo Shaving Brush

The morning after the bathroom mirror was replaced, I was getting ready to drive my wife to yet another new doctor. I was all set to shave when I remembered that my wife moved my shaving supplies yesterday when she cleared off the counter.

I looked for my shaving supplies first in my cabinet, which is where I usually put my stuff when I'm tired of looking at it. I found my old razor but not the new one and not my shaving brush. But just to be sure, I carefully looked at all the items on all the shelves just in case I overlooked something. But my new razor and shaving brush -- my supplies -- were not there. I took out the old razor and decided to use that.

I figured that my shaving brush was in the cabinet under the sink. It's my wife's favorite spot for stashing things she'd rather not see or have other people see. My neti pot often ends up there. I took a quick look, but I couldn't find it. There was a clear location for it, too, right in front, which is where the neti pot goes. But the neti pot was on the counter. And the shaving brush was not to be found.

I did find my new razor, though. So I looked a bit more carefully and thoroughly in that bottom cabinet. I looked behind tall objects. I looked inside small boxes. I felt around with my fingers. I was sure the shaving brush was not there.

Meanwhile, my wife was sleeping, gathering strength so that she can discuss her condition yet again with a new doctor. I didn't want to wake her, so I looked for my shaving brush in the shower. After all, I sometimes shave in the shower and leave the brush in there. But it wasn't there.

I looked in the cabinet that's above the toilet. (We have a lot of cabinet space in our bathroom.) Sill, there was no sign of the shaving brush.

I peeked in the waste bin, just in case. It was nearly empty.

I had no other choice but to ask my wife what she did with it.

"Where's my shaving brush?"

"I left it in the cabinet, under the sink."

"I already looked there. I can't find it."

I walked back to the bathroom ahead of my wife to again look in the cabinet under the sink very carefully to avoid embarrassment. As I walked, I faintly detect sighing and a bit of grumbling coming from the bedroom.

She peered inside the cabinet with me. Pointing to the empty space, she said she left it there.

It was when I was focusing on that empty space, hoping the brush would materialize, when I heard my wife say,

"You're looking for your shaving brush, right? The one that's right on the counter?"

It was, as she said, right on the counter. Where I always keep it. Amazing.

If she weren't so sick, I'd be certain that she had played a trick on me. But I have to consider some other possibilities:

1. I'm nuts.
2. Something about the new mirror changed the energy in the room. The brush was momentarily caught in a null part of the energy field, causing photons to bend around it rather than bounce off it.
3. I'm really nuts.
   

Obviously the answer is #2. Hahaha, okay it's #3. I guess what happened is that I was paying more attention to my internal visual memory of the barren countertop that I saw on Wednesday rather than the actual countertop with the stuff on it.

Or maybe I really started out looking for my razor, which I couldn't find. When I found my old razor, I probably decided that my shaving brush was with the new razor and not in plain sight on the counter. And I did find my new razor in the cabinet under the sink. But, of course, the shaving brush was not with it, which caused me no end of concern.

This is all pretty scary, especially considering that I drive a car and design things that go into missiles and satellites.