COME FIND ME

COME FIND ME

By Lydia Hope Wilen

“Ewwww. Your popsicle is melting,” I said to Nicky, hoping his mother would have been home by now. “It's sticky. I don't want it anymore,” he replied as he held out his little hand ... his sticky little hand, offering me his half-eaten popsicle.  I was more than willing to take it from this six-year-old boy who lived across the hall from me and whose mother asked that I stay with him for about an hour, until she straightened things out at the bank.

“Okay Nicky, I'll finish it for you," I good-naturedly volunteered. I tore a paper towel n half, wet it, gave the wet half to Nicky to wipe his hands, and with the other half of the paper towel, I covered the sticky, exposed part of the stick with it before taking over as the popsicle finisher.  The popsicle was gnawingly sweet, yet somewhat refreshing.  Enough was left on the stick to make it a satisfying portion, even on this hot and humid afternoon …especially on this hot and humid afternoon. The air conditioning in the building was being repaired and opening the windows didn't help. A partial popsicle might.

I finished the popsicle and before throwing away the stick, I thought about how popsicle sticks are a favorite among crafty people. Using them is an inexpensive activity to do with children.  They can make an airplane, a pencil cup, an animal puppet. There's no end to the things you can make with popsicle sticks and a creative imagination.  So, with that in mind, I wasn't about to throw away a stick that could be used as part of a collection that may eventually result in a work of folk art.

I needed to wash my hands and I thought I'd wash the stick at the same time. That's when I saw a message on the stick. In red ink and in all caps, it said, COME FIND ME. Find who?  This was a person's handwriting, not machine-printing. Could COME FIND ME be the name of the popsicle company?  I went to the freezer and took out the box with the remaining few popsicles in it. The name on the box was The Popsicle Company. I never heard of it, but then again, there are lots of companies I never heard of. There are new ones springing up every day. 

Was this company holding one of their employees hostage or was this written on every popsicle stick? To answer that question, clearly I had to eat another popsicle. I ate a tangerine-flavored popsicle and there was nothing on the stick except the company name, The Popsicle Company, imprinted in brownish ink.

Then I thought that maybe the person who wrote COME FIND ME was assigned a specific flavor. The flavor with the message was raspberry. I had no choice but to check out another raspberry. When I finished eating it, I once again saw just the company name. The only flavor I didn’t try was strawberry. I had to know if anything was written on the strawberry stick. Again, there wasn’t anything other than the company name. By now, a little nauseous and nervous, I didn't know what to do.  Should I call the police? Should I forget about it? Is it right to make believe I never saw the stick? What if someone is in trouble?   

By the time Nicky's mother came home, I had already taken the stick and decided to continue my detective work in my own apartment. Before I left, I apologized for making a pig of myself by eating three popsicles, blaming it on the hot weather and lack of air conditioning. “It's the least I could give you for watching Nicky,” she said. I thought to myself, you could also give me an Alka-Seltzer to relieve my nausea after eating those sweeter-than-need-be popsicles.

At home, in front of my computer, I typed in "The Popsicle Company" and clicked on the link taking me to their website. There it was, the COME FIND ME Contest. It was comforting to know that no one was being held captive in their kitchen, but now I wanted to enter the contest. To enter, you had to have a popsicle stick that says, COME FIND ME. There's one in every box of popsicles. Once you have the stick, you have to figure out how to find me. Hint: Come Find Me

Not much in the way of rules and hints.  I watch word games on TV, I do crossword puzzles, and I'm never stumped by the Jumble in the Daily News. I should be able to figure this out. 

I started with anagrams of COME FIND ME: I FENCED MOM, ME FOND MICE, OF MEDIC MEN.  The only one that showed some promise was: FED NICE MOM.  So what? I couldn't do anything more with that anagram. 

I even tried variations of codes -- one letter forward or one letter back, but it didn't spell anything sensible. Surely the company wants someone to win and they're not depending on professional code decipherers to enter their silly little contest. I was driving myself crazy with this. Then I remembered reading that breathing negative ions from running water helps one relax and think clearly. I knew what I had to do. I took a shower. While it helped me cool off, nothing came to mind.

I thought I'd distract myself by watching television. Hey, yeah, if I forget all about it, something may jump into my mind when I least expect it. Who am I kidding? Least expect it means that I really expect it. I turned on the TV and clicked on the Game Show Network. I guess hoping for some inspiration. While "Family Feud" is an entertaining show, it's not at all inspiring. And every minute there are a dozen commercials.  I watched anyway, and . . .

That's when it happened. I figured it out while watching a commercial for a non-surgical procedure for patellofemoral pain syndrome. The announcer said, "Anyone suffering from this condition, pick up the phone right now and call: MY BAD KNEES. Underneath those three words, were the numbers they represented on the telephone dial.  

That's it! I grabbed my phone and wrote down C = 2, O = 6, M = 6, E = 3 and so on until I got the phone number for COME FIND ME. I immediately called the number and heard a loud crowd shout, "Congratulations!" Then a man said, "You found me. You're the winner!" I was thrilled. "What did I win?" I asked. "The prize is The Popsicle Company popsicles -- one box a week for a year."  GULP!