Yesterday morning I went to the local supermarket to buy a few things; and when I was given my change at the checkout (a note and a few coins), for some reason neglected to put the note, as I usually do, in my wallet. Went to the bakery next door (they do good sourdough), spent some of the coins ... as I walked away I recall thinking that I shouldn't be strolling along with a banknote in my naked hand and at that moment, or very soon afterwards, it disappeared ... ! Just disappeared! And I do not know what happened to it. Naturally, a few steps on, when I realised it had gone, I turned around and went back for a look; nada. It had vanished into thin air; like a reverse of one of those conjurer's tricks where a coin appears out of an empty palm; or as if some unseen hand had reached down and taken it from me. Or had I (or rather my right arm) passed, unwitting, through some anti-gravity field, some mini black hole, some Bermuda Triangle for banknotes. I know already that this is something I will never understand; while the metaphorical interpretations remain to haunt me: too true, too true.

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