It lies on the parking strip of the neighbor’s house, one forlorn purple sock.  JJ and Benny inspect it.   It’s been two days and no one picked it up.  How does one lone sock get left on a parking strip?    

 You lost its mate in the laundry room and decided to throw it in the garbage.  Bert the crow picked it up because he likes bright objects.  But the sock isn’t edible, so Bert grows hungry leaving it to lie where he tossed it.  But, there’s no other garbage around and Bert likes to throw garbage all over.

Rather than have a garage sale, you put stuff out on the curb.  That’s pretty common around here.  I see chairs, mattresses and desks with a big FREE sign stuck on them.  It rains lots in Seattle which means the stuff is soaked.  I don’t consider a soaked chair a bargain even if its $0.  There is no FREE sign with the sock which is about as good a deal as a rain soaked chair.  My bet is not on this option.

Your niece decided to go barefoot.  Rachel who is 11 came over to play with your kids.  She loves wet grass and took her socks off.   In the excitement, she forgot to bring one of her socks into the house.  She’s one tough cookie since its 40 degrees out.  You’re going to take her to the polar bear plunge in Puget Sound.   You’re positive she’ll jump right in.  

You noticed the sock and don’t want to move it.  Whoever misplaced it will come back, searching for it and you don’t want them to miss it.  You will be disappointed.  Jack’s mom found a cloth belt on the parking strip one day. She hung it on the railing at the top of the stairs leading up to the sidewalk so whoever lost it couldn’t miss it.  It hung there for over a year.  I finally tired of that decoration and recycled it. 

I think its Rachel’s forgotten sock, although Bert is a definite possibility.  What about you?