The Parable of the Missing Bag

While I was still working in one of the university libraries in Metro Manila, my co-workers and I had heard complaints from students that their bags, or wallets got lost.

And they wondered who the culprit or culprits were.

Although our supervisors did not tell us to catch the culprit or culprits, Joe and I promised to do something about it.

One Saturday afternoon while we were doing our usual works at the readers services rooms, Joe told me to close the exit gate upon his instruction.

After one hour, Joe told me to close the exit gate because he believed the suspect had gotten inside the room, and has taken one of the bags placed by somebody on the reading table.

I noticed one girl carrying two bags.

So I immediately closed the gate.

I questioned her why she was carrying two bags. She said that one of the bags belonged to her friend and she was asked to carry it.

By then so many students could no longer get out of the library and so they gathered near the exit gate.

Not long after that a girl arrived.

She told me that her bag was missing. When she looked at the girl carrying two bags, she immediately recognized her missing bag.

"That's my bag!", she said.

I told her to prove her claim. She told me that her ID card was inside the bag.

So the bag was opened, and in a few seconds, she picked out her ID card from the said bag.

Now that we were sure that we caught the culprit, we phoned the university police for assistance.

And in a few minutes, they came.

They brought the culprit to their headquarter for investigation.