THREE LITTLE KITTENS LOST THEIR MITTENS

Several weeks ago, a customer emailed me. "Interested in purchasing Three Little Kittens Lost Their Mittens [Hardcover] but want to make sure it is the right book.  Could you send a photo?"  The Three Little Kittens -- a book I had purchased years ago because it was so adorable and because I loved the jingle so much when I was a little girl (our family loved kittens and always had one, though we would have loved to have had three in our home, if my mother had allowed it.  My father's favorite kitten was Pepsi Cola.  She alone is worthy of a blog post, which she shall have soon. I promise.  Back to my story. . .)

Here was my listing:

Livermore, Elaine. THREE LITTLE KITTENS LOST THEIR MITTENS. Houghton Mifflin, Juv, 1979. First edition, first printing. ISBN: 0395283795.  Pages clean and tight, appears unread. School/Library Binding. Fine Hardcover in Fine Dust jacket.  (28803) $38.50

I promptly answered: "We'll be happy to check (book is in warehouse) and get back to you tomorrow.  Thanks for the inquiry." I had listed the book on my website, http://www.OldCornerBooks.com, in June of 2006, and recently moved the book from where it was stored in my first warehouse (which I had outgrown) to my most recent warehouse in Newton Corner, 1/2 mile from my house.  I was a bit concerned that the kittens may have gotten lost in the move, but I found the book, looking fine as described, in the northern most corner of my shelves, 2nd row from the windows on the East, 3rd book from the right, just where it belonged.

Happily toting the kittens home with me, I took out my camera and placing the book on my dining room table, snapped a picture of it.

There they were -- the three little kittens AND their mittens!  Great.  I emailed the photo to my customer, and he immediately replied that he would like to purchase the book and would place the order soon.  I put the book aside, awaiting the order.

Now here's the thing.  When the order finally came through, a month and a day from our communication (the customer had been away on vacation), I could not find The Three Little Kittens anywhere. . .

The three little kittens were looking for their mittens, I guess, and I was still looking for them. Where ever do you think they could be hiding?

A weekend has passed since I began to write the above blog post, and guess what? I went to open a box containing five autographed copies of Zabelle, a box I had received in the mail a month ago from the author, Nancy Kricorian, and under that box was hiding -- you guessed it -- The Three Little Kittens!  So now all I have to do is find the customer (from whom, perhaps, the kittens were hiding . . . who knows?)  I know my books love their cozy little home here almost as much as I do, surrounded by their companions, thousands of books, all snugly shelved in our old Victorian house (built in 1870), and thousands more in our warehouse (the 145 year old wooden building in Newton Corner, once belonging to the Boston & Albany Railroad, now looking like a Victorian cottage from the street with a long addition tacked on in the late 19th Century at the back.) Who would want to leave?