Blurry Vision

The sitting room was very well furnished. From the perfectly placed baby blue wallpaper, to the lacy dolly on the dark oak center table. There was not a spec of dust in the room, the maids had been sure to make it that way. A beautiful artwork of some kind graced the papered wall. On the far side of the room was a chest game, started but never finished and the opposite side of the room held a small shelf. The windows were long and opened to reveal the sun’s golden rays. This was what anyone would have seen walking into this room, but it was not what John saw.

         John walked into the room, his spectacles nestles amongst his salt and pepper hair. He wore a fine suit of the best quality. And his shoes were shined to perfection; he could see his reflection in them if he wanted to.

But he didn’t want to. The only thing John wanted to do was find his spectacles. He was sure that he had left them in a simple spot, but after checking his personal rooms, the library, his study, and everywhere in between, he had been unable to find them. Which was why he was now searching in the sitting room.

He could have called upon the help of his servants, but he had made the same request so many times that he could not allow them to be called for the task yet again. His wife would have helped him, but she was on a shopping excursion and wasn’t likely to be back until supper.

He scowled and stepped farther into the room. He aught to keep his spectacles on a chain, his wife had said as much several times, but he did not want to look like a doddering old man, so he refused. He was only fifty-one after all, but tell that to his poor vision.

He looked once around the room, but rather than seeing the settee with its fragile legs, and the chess game, and the painting, and embroidered pillows, he saw only colorful blobs. Great, this search would be harder than he thought, especially since he rarely went into this room except to talk to his wife.

He thought back to when he had been in this room and was sure that he had been wearing his spectacles when he entered, but he did not know if he had exited with them on. Welp, he would just have to find out.

He walked in the room and started at the center table, he swept a hand across it, but felt nothing besides the lacy dolly. He moved on to the settee and felt along the cushions and in between them, but his hand came up with nothing but a forgotten handkerchief left from one visit or another. Two down, only a few more places to go. He checked the chess table, and the other two chairs, and the small shelf in the right corner, but he found no sign of his spectacles.

Where could they be? He sighed and frustration and pulled on the bell pull. He would just have to ask for help. He could not find them on his own, not with his less than grand eyesight.

A moment later, a maid popped into the room and curtsied. “What can I get for you, sir?”

He tucked his pride aside and spoke, “It appears I have lost my spectacles again.”

She nodded, trying to hold back a smile. “I see.” She giggled at her pun and then turned serious. “Where have you gone before losing them?”

He ticked off a list of places. The library for a book, his study for paperwork, the sitting room for a chat with his wife, the kitchen for a snack, and his own rooms.

She nodded, also unaware of the spectacles in question being right atop his head. “I shall recruit the help of some the other maids and we shall spread out and try to find them.”

He nodded and she left the room, probably laughing all the way. He really needed to get a chain for them after this. Even if he looked like an old man it would be better than search every week for his missing spectacles.

An hour later, the maid returned. He looked up from the book he was trying to read. “Have you got them?” He held out his hand, but felt nothing being dropped into his palm.

She shook her head. “I am sorry, sir. We checked all the places you mentioned, but we have not found them either. Are you sure you have not left them someplace else?”

He tried to think. Perhaps, he had not been wearing them at all today. Maybe he had lost them yesterday, perhaps in the dining room. Yes, perhaps that was where they were now. “Perhaps they are in the dining room. Would you be so kind as to check there?”

She nodded. “Of course.” And then she was gone again. He waited only ten minutes this time before she returned. He could tell by her clasped hands that she did not find his spectacles.

He groaned. “I suppose you did not find them.”

She shook her head. “No, sir. I’m sorry.”

He waved off her apology. “I suppose I must be better with keeping them with me. You may go about your other duties now.”

She curtsied and exited the room.

He stood up and began heading back to his study. He supposed he would simply have to buy another pair, but they would take some time to be made. Time he would spend with his blurry vision. He sat down at his desk and ran his hands through his hair. Only his hands came in contact with something else in the process.

He shook his head in disbelief and grabbed the spectacles from their resting place. To think he had spent all that time searching for them only for them to be on his head. He placed them on and his vision cleared.

Tomorrow, he thought, I’m going to buy a chain for them so that I would not lose them again.