Your choice changes what happens next
The key in the saucer
By Saturday afternoon, everything in Alder House's lost-property tray had found a claimant except a brass key. Even the solitary oven glove had gone upstairs with someone who insisted it was a hat for a teapot. Leena Shah put the key in a ceramic saucer. She had lived here for six weeks, photographed kitchen appliances for a living, and volunteered to sort the tray because objects were easier to introduce herself to than people.
The key had a red fabric loop and a tag marked C4. On its reverse, in smaller writing, was SPARE. Sixteen-year-old Kit Mercer stopped beside the table with a laundry basket balanced on one hip. "I returned that on Tuesday," he said. "Dev lent it to me. It isn't mine." From the green bench, Celia Ortiz looked up from a crossword. "Nothing in that cupboard belongs to just one person," she said, and went back to being annoyed by seven across.
Leena had expected a flat number, not a philosophical difficulty. Monday's cupboard repainting meant the shared supplies had to be inventoried, although nothing unclaimed would be thrown away. She could put the key in another tray and inherit the puzzle next month. Instead she carried the saucer toward the caretaker's desk. Kit followed, apparently forgetting that he had just declared himself uninvolved.