The room was a mess; papers were strewn about in a careless manner, books were piled and stacked anywhere, some still open their spine breaking under the pressure being exerted upon it. Laundry was flung around the room as if they were decorations, paying homage to some abstract painter. The room was a mess, and that was the problem. The room was always a mess, and now the occupant of that room, one Nivley Hockerbock, was hysterical about a missing object of great importance.

“This thievery, this robbery, was . . . was most egregious,” Nivley screamed at the officer.

“Calm down madam. What did you say was missing?”

Nivley leveled a calm but thunderous stare at the officer. “I have already told you policemen when I called. If you don't know maybe they should have sent someone else who pays better attention to detail! How can I expect you will find it when you cannot even remember something as simple as the fact that my pet rabbit was taken from me, stolen out of my very own room!”

The officer sighed and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, all the while biting his tongue. “And how do you know it is missing?” he asked.

“Isn't it obvious?” she screamed. “It's not here, so of course it's missing.”

“Ma'am, how do you know it is not still in this room, hiding under something.”

“I would know, wouldn't I? I'd have to set him down now, wouldn't I?”

“He could have hopped away,” the officer suggested, his voice straining.

Nivley threw up her hands in exasperation, “Don't you ever listen?” she screamed, quickly approaching hysteria. “He's a stuffed rabbit. He can't hop! Who ever heard of a stuffed rabbit hopping around?”

“If I understand you correctly you have lost a stuffed toy rabbit -- ”

“It wasn't a toy. It was stuffed. Taxidermy. What do we pay you for? Even Watson could do better than you,” Nivley spat.

The officer had nearly lost all of his patience now. “Excuse me. It was your stuffed rabbit that got lost and you called us here to report him stolen when he could very well be under some of this mess. I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do. I'll file a report and if we hear anything we'll let you know.” The officer turned to go, kicking over a small pile of clothes, some loose papers, including what looked to be two paychecks, some crumpled food wrappers, and three shoes, none of them matching.

“Watch where you're--” Nively started, then stopped, her hands flying to her mouth and her eyes widening in elation. “Gnormmy!” she cried as she dove at the pile, head first, her hands outstretched. She hit the floor with a loud thud, squealing like a small child on Christmas morning, the piles around her caving in on her head. The piles moved and shifted like so many tectonic plates and up she arose her rabbit hugged to her chest.

The officer shook his head, a scowl beginning to form on his features. “It appears I am done here,” he said rather gruffly then quickly left the house before he would say something he would later regret. “The only egregious thing about this whole mess was the waste of my time,” he mumbled to himself as he got into his car and drove away.