Red Yarn; A Memory

Going through some old files, I stumbled across this picture. Intrigued, I pulled it out of the overflowing folder and laid it on the desk. What was this strange doll? Where had this taken place? Curious, I checked the name on the file folder and was shocked. It was my own.

In my line of work, it is important to keep files on all involved persons in a case, including oneself. The secrets that you keep from yourself can often be the most instrumental to solving a mystery.

So, for the next week, I pondered from whence this photo had come. I knew it was one that I had taken it but I could not remember where or wherefore. Like a puzzle that had been stolen by somewhat remorseful thieves, it came back to me piece by piece.

The evidence I've been able to collect, based on a somewhat faulty memory, is as follows. Hopefully it will aid me in my current investigation:

Let us start with the time period. This was back in my school days, back before any secret agencies or - *AHEM* I mean my school days which were, of course, very recent and in fact still ongoing. (good save) It was my second to last year of high school, and I must have been about 16. It was late fall, perhaps October.

The location is that of my high school, which shall not be revealed herein. These are the concrete steps outside my school leading from the main entrance to that of a stairwell about halfway up a hill. The photo was taken closer to the stairs than the main entrance.

Now let us move onto the subject, which is most likely the toughest to explain. This is a doll made of red yarn named "Spooky", though it is not actually terribly spooky. The red yarn was previously wrapped around a friend's face to film a short video in which he was consumed by a yarn monster. This video was then entered into a contest which we later won third place in. After removing it from his face with scissors (ah, the follies of youth), he used the leftover yarn to create this doll and gave it to me. He also made himself a smaller one (whose name I forget) for himself.

The hair bow is one that I still own. I had worn it that day, either in my hair or as a bowtie as was my prefered style of dress in my youth. I decided, though, that it looked better on Spooky than on myself and proceeded to bring Spooky with me throughout the day and to my various classes (starting off with tech, during which we filmed the video, then going to chemistry, lunch, then photography, during which this photo was taken).

Why this photo was taken is perhaps the most curious matter of all. It was for photography class where we were sent out to take pictures on a certain theme. I cannot remember if the theme was something relevant to the picture or if I was goofing off with a friend who had accompanied me out to the stairs. I did tend to photograph a lot of unusual things for that class (perhaps the beginnings of my interest in collecting clues), but why this particular one was taken and why, when I regularly burn incriminating or identifying evidence, I kept this one remains a mystery. Why did I think this important to save?

There are so many more unanswered questions - what did I eat for lunch? What was I wearing? Why has this photo survived in my archives? But these questions will remain unanswered as is the downside of relying on memory.

I tucked the photo back into my file, smiling and remembering a simpler time.

- A.M. Ham