Lost and Found!

Something really dreadful happened to me today in school. I had brought along my full NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) uniform as I had to attend my CCA (Co-curricular activity) after school. NPCC is held from quarter past two to half past five, once every week.  

When the bell rang at five minutes past one, everyone rushed out of the classroom. All the NPCC members gathered in the toilet to change into our full uniform. We had lunch after that and went up to the fourth level to fall in. For today’s training, there was a uniform check. Luckily, I had polished my boots and seasoned my beret beforehand, or else I would have failed the check. We did many drills and we even had some camp craft sessions after changing back into our PT (Physical Training) kit. Fortunately, there was still time for games! We played captain’s ball and my team won the game.

After dismissal, all of us lined up in an orderly manner to collect our bags from the NPCC room. I picked up my clothes bag and school bag and left immediately as I was really tired and was eager to get home. It had been a long day and there was homework to attend to!

When I arrived home, I discovered to my horror that my NPCC shirt was missing! Everything else was in the clothes bag but no shirt. I retraced my movements after school and deduced that I must have left it behind in the toilet when changing back to my PT kit. I was really in a panic as there was no way I could replace the shirt if it could not be found and in that eventuality I would hate to have to face my NPCC officer with an explanation on how the shirt got lost. It would be extremely embarrassing as it was total irresponsibility on my part.

What was most worrying was that it was already late in the evening when the loss was discovered and my calls to the school had gone unanswered as all the administrative staff in the general office had already left for home. I wondered whether there would be anybody in the school to allow me access to the school grounds to search for the shirt.

I told my father, who was at home, about my predicament. He suggested that we make a trip to the school to try our luck. When we reached the school, we were really surprised. The compound was brightly lit. It turned out that the secondary four students had to stay back after school for a night study programme. We made our way to the toilet on the fourth floor and viola, my shirt was lying on the sink top, in the exact same position as I had left it!

From then on, I had learnt my lesson: to check my bags thoroughly before leaving for home to see if anything is missing! I may not be so lucky the second time around!