The office keeps a list

Municipal Lost & Found

Things go missing in a small town less often than you would think, and turn up more often than anyone is comfortable with. Everything here belonged to somebody. Come by the office with a description and, where we can, we will make you prove it.

A brass spyglass laid on a dark surface beside an evidence marker numbered one and a forensic scale, photographed for the record. — Item, photographed for the record. Owner not listed.

Four items laid out on a steel table with evidence markers one through four: a wooden baton, a spiral notepad, a navy necktie, and an officer's service plaque. — Items pending return, photographed together for efficiency.

Current inventory, updated when the clerk gets to it. Descriptions are the finder's words.
Item	Where found	Logged	Status
Child's mitten, red, left hand	Elm & Second	Dec 27	Unclaimed
Casserole dish, Pyrex, washed clean	The assembly hall	Nov 30	Unclaimed
Parade baton, metal, red and white, dented	The parade route	Dec 24	Resolved
House keys, Meridian issue, no fob	The hill road	Jan 2	Unclaimed
Set of dog antlers, brown leather, hand-stitched	The vacant lot on the hill	Dec 30	Unclaimed
Prescription pad, blank	Maple Street clinic	Dec 19	Claimed
Thermos, green enamel, dented lid	Beneath the folding chairs	Dec 26	Unclaimed
One work glove, left, well worn	A driveway on the hill road	Jan 6	Unclaimed
Necktie, navy, silk	The marina lot	Dec 22	Claimed
Officer's plaque, wood with a brass front	Reported off a wall; not turned in	Jan 9	Unclaimed

Items unclaimed after ninety days are donated, discarded, or returned to where they were found, whichever the finder prefers. The office is not responsible for items that come back on their own.

One work glove is held here against our own policy. Its owner is known, and does not take his gloves off, and has not asked after it. We are holding it anyway.

"Resolved" is the status the office uses when a matter is closed and no further questions are helpful. It is not the same as "Claimed." Please do not ask which item it was; the clerk who logged it has said all she intends to.