I lost my tickets to ALDS Game 4

Seriously. While walking with Mrs. noternie through the Prudential Center Mall, the tickets--in an envelope folded twice and stuffed securely in the front left pocket of my Levi's--fell to the floor of the mall, which I didn't discover until a few minutes later.

We were meeting my brother-in-law and neice who were going to the game separeatley. They joined us on a frantic search for the tickest in a crowded, urban mall. We asked security, customer service and each of the many kiosk workers if they had seen anything. Nothing. We retraced our path from the car to the end of the mall where I had walked. Nothing.

Talk about sick to my stomach. There was no doubt that someone had picked up the envelope, found the tickets and felt like the luckiest person in Boston. The only chance we had was that the envelope was folded twice and may have looked like trash...as long as the person who picked them up didn't notice the writing on the outside of the envelope that read: ALDS Game 4.

Finally, one of the kiosk workers mentioned that maintenence sweeps up frequently and that the envelope might have gotten scooped up by them. He told us they dump the trash into one of the many receptacles located throughout the Mall. So we retraced our path and I gingerly looked through at least half a dozen trash cans. With only two or three left, my brother-in-law proudly called out and held aloft the found tickets. The tickets were in this trashcan, my newest favoritist trashcan, to which I may forever genuflect whenever I pass by...



It took the walk over to Fenway, a sausage, a beer and a full inning before the pit in my stomach was fully disolved.