Gone from the Drawer

A private object disappears from a city apartment, the kind of thing a person hides even from the one who shares the bed. It is not jewelry. It is not a phone. It is what they reach for when they are alone, and one morning the drawer looks innocent. / The search is worse than the loss. Asking a neighbor means describing it. Accusing a lover means admitting how often it was used. Somewhere in the building, somebody is carrying a piece of a secret life in a bag, and they may want money, silence, or a conversation the owner cannot have with their dignity still intact.