My iPhone ran away. No really, it jumped out my car window. At least that's the only explanation I can give for having the phone in my hand as I pulled into the parking lot and not being able to find it anywhere 2 minutes later when I turned the car off.

Did the parking attendant lift it with Houdini-like skill? Did I hand it over to him along with two $5 bills? Did the phone decide to commit suicide gold-fish style and hurl itself into the abyss?

After I tore the car upside down looking in every nook and cranny for the God-damn phone I realized either there was a black hole on the driver side or it was dark and I was late to meet my friends for the movie and I simply hadn't seen it in my haste. I decided to take a deep breath, go to the theater, enjoy the movie and look again in the morning with fresh eyes and in the light of day.

(12 hrs without cell access) The next morning I opened my computer to find the following message: YOUR PHONE FOUND! What? Some guy had found it, dialed the last number I called (Celeste, a good friend) and left a message asking if she might know who the iPhone belonged to. Celeste emailed me with the guy's phone number. The trouble was, I DIDN'T have a phone to call him with as I have renounced land-lines and been eternally snarky with Celeste for still having one. Serves me right.

(24 hrs without cell access) I looked for quarters and went trolling for public phones, of which there were very few, and none in working order. Shit! This was Sunday. I emailed Celeste asking if she could pick up the phone for me since she could actually communicate with the guy; no response.

(48 hrs without cell access) Monday night. My roommate finally comes home and lets me borrow HER iPhone. I called Martin, the lovely college student who found my phone, completely unharmed FIVE BLOCKS from the parking lot. YEP, THAT'S RIGHT: F I V E whole BLOCKS. How does a cell phone disappear in a car and shows up in a completely different city block IN SF SOMA (a district doted with dive bars and homeless shelters?). Excellent question. Warp in the time-space continuum? Unlikely. Remorseful fast-handed parking attendant? Perhaps. Completely absent minded and terribly unlucky thief? Who knows.

72 hrs later I got my phone back without a scratch on it and with 15 VMs from friends progressively more freaked out as I failed to call them back. Martin, my iPhone hero, confessed he had imagined an elaborate CSI-like scenario where I had been abducted and potentially killed. He was minutes away from calling the police when I finally got in touch with him. That was a close one.