When I was young my cousin had his bike stolen. My uncle replaced it and said that whoever took the bike probably really needed it. Sadly my cousin found his bike in little pieces all over the neighbourhood park. He was pretty choked up that someone would steal his bike for no other reason than to wreck it.
I had a feeling that I was missing some little keys and tonight I learned that yes, I was/am missing keys 215, 255, and 287. OK. The truth is I've had these and other keys on display for awhile; I noticed some time ago that their display box was looking a little empty. If I were an accountant and/or more interested in inventory then I would be able to tell you which of these three keys was actually sold last year and which of these keys (two of them) were part of an unregulated adventure.
The truth is also that I'm going to take it as a huge compliment that someone would want a key badly enough to steal it and ignore the possibility that these keys were taken just for the thrill of the take; or (perish the thought) that they ended up in little pieces across a park or sidewalk somewhere.
Here are some pictures of those unaccounted-for keys (may they be happily amongst someone's possessions):
P.S. I used to paint in wax (although I didn't know at the time the proper term was encaustic painting) and sold some pieces to a friend. They were stolen out of his car one day when he was running errands. Maybe that's a good sign - people wanting my work so much they just take it and damn the consequences!
