To catch a thief(?): Final Update

Back where we started.

Well folks, it might be time to wrap this adventure up, publicly at least. It’s been fun, but it’s getting me nowhere but crazy and insane. Clearly this person is stopping at a limited number of stops, but I’ll never catch him/her in time, and who knows if it would be safe to try.

There’s also nothing Troy PD can or is willing to do, which I’ve known since last night and makes sense. I can have the phone at a location, but that’s not probable cause to search. GPS can tell you approximately where something is, but not exactly where and especially not who has it. It is, of course, disappointing. You always hope that, in the end, someone does the right thing. Fortunately there are many other cases where it does happen, but not this time.

Maybe they think if someone dropped a Blackberry, they can afford to get a new one. That person doesn’t know, or probably doesn’t care, that I got that phone for free as part of my renewal with Sprint and that I’m as poor as (if not poorer than) them.

On the plus side, that last part is a realization that really got me thinking and reflecting about my own past; specifically where I’ve been.

One of the regular stops the person made throughout the course of the day was literally right across the street, or right at, where I grew up: Griswold Heights on Madison Ave., Buildings 2 & 4. Summer’s approach and today’s weather got me thinking even more about that place. I remember the handful of friends I had, the things we’d do outside, and the things I’d do on my own. I can remember one Summer reading my first book on my front porch. Our apartment was on the left corner facing the street, with the East wall running perpendicular to the North wall of the apartment next door. This gave us a unique advantage over other places: essentially two front yards, with the perpendicular brick walls providing a corner creating a shaded respite from the 80+ degree weather.

Did a three-faced, three-hundred foot robot take my Blackberry? Hey, it's possible.

It was in that spot that I read the first comic book I ever purchased. It was Amazing Spider-Man #329, where Spider-Man fought the Tri-Sentinel: a giant robot with three faces and three arms. The cover showed the metal monstrosity bringing his iron hoof down on the protagonist, a perennial underdog straining under the weight and in a fight of his life. In the story itself, he only survived the encounter after being granted the powers of Captain Universe, a universal force that bestowed unstoppable powers upon an individualwhen certain actions put an entire world or galaxy in peril.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but that story encapsulated everything that would draw me towards comics: the idea that the meek, while maybe not one day inheriting the Earth, can still rise to the occasion and overcome what seem to be overwhelming obstacles. For me, it was not the allure of the American dream that got me thinking there was a way out of there, it was Spider-Man.

We ended up moving out of Griswold Heights before my 13th birthday. As my siblings got older, the mouths to feed got fewer and my mother was able to stretch her few dollars further. We moved into better accommodations and were freed from public housing.

Today was a healthy reminder of where I’ve been and how far I have to go still. Tools, gadgets, phones, and all those other peripheral accessories have no greater worth in the long-run than they do in their absence from my life. The important thing is that I have those things that cannot be replaced in my life, and gone from my life are all of those places and things that are present at so many of the stops my phone made today. I followed those stops in the hopes that there would be some sort of power granted through it and I’d have my own personal Captain Universe moment. That didn’t happen, of course, but at least we all had a laugh.

Enjoy your journey, my former Blackberry. Better you than me.

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It’s been an interesting journey and many of you have made offers I cannot possibly take you up on regarding replacement phones. Better to be without a phone than without a home, though, which so many in Alabama and nearby States are after last week’s devastating tornadoes. If you’re feeling generous, then please:

• Donate to the American Red Cross
• Volunteer your time to help aid in the recovery effort
• text “REDCROSS” to 90999 ($10 donation added to your phone bill)