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My friend Mike is extremely organized and obsessive-compulsive, like many of the people I hang out with, which is how he manages to stress himself out. He usually wears jeans to work, but a few weeks ago he varied his routine by wearing slacks. “I mustn’t put my cellphone in the pocket of my slacks or it will fall out,” he thought. Then he put his cellphone in the pocket of his slacks, which is how this story begins.

That night when he got home, he emptied the contents of his pockets on a table and stretched out on his bed. He was just falling into a pleasant doze when his eyes flew open. “Where’s my cellphone?” he said. He jumped out of bed and looked at the stuff he’d taken out of his pockets. Of course the cellphone wasn’t there. “Could I have put it somewhere after I arrived?” he thought hopefully, the way we tend to when we know something aggravating has happened.

He was still pointlessly ransacking his apartment when there was a knock on the door. It was the messenger from his restaurant, bringing the day’s receipts. “Sir, your brother called the restaurant, he says Anna has your cellphone.” Mike was floored. How did his brother know he was missing his cellphone, and Anna who?

Immediately he called his brother, who told him that their friend Anna had called. Apparently Mike’s phone had been left in a taxi. After Mike got out of the taxi, it was hailed by two MAPSA traffic enforcers on their way to SM Makati. One of the MAPSA guys saw the phone on the seat and told the taxi driver. The taxi driver said, Give it to me, I’ll return it. The MAPSA guys said, No you won’t. One of them dialed the first name on Mike’s phone’s directory. The first name listed in the A’s was Anna. 

Anna answered the call made from Mike’s phone. “Yes,” she told the MAPSA guy, “I know the owner of this phone.” “You can claim it from the MAPSA office in Mandaluyong,” said the guy. “The traffic is terrible,” Anna said. “Are you in Mandaluyong right now?” “No,” said the guy, “We’re in SM Makati.”

Guess where Mike’s friend Anna was at that very minute. And she seldom goes to SM Makati, so it was amazing. She found the MAPSA guys, who were reluctant to give her the phone, so she offered them a reward of 200 pesos. Then her large burly bush jacket-wearing driver came over, and they were convinced.

So Mike got his phone back. “You should be more careful with your phone,” his older brother admonished him, “It’s such an inconvenience to lose your numbers. Don’t just stuff it in your pocket. You should attach those little phone chains with bells so it makes a noise if you drop it.” “Yeah, yeah,” said Mike, who was extremely relieved that he didn’t have to reconstruct his directory.

Three days later, Mike’s older brother lost his cellphone.