Her name is Pamela Williams.
His story begins on a cold winter’s day in early January, the kind of day you wish you could stay home, drinking cups of hot chocolate and just chilling. However, that cold January day was certainly not going to be like that. It was the day of Pamela and Jason’s five-year-old son’s doctor’s appointment.
The pediatric allergist the Williams family had been instructed to see was located near Manhattan. The query went well. They left the office satisfied, but with some reservations about whether or not to stick with the regiment of medications prescribed for Johnny’s rashes.
Being so close to Jason’s business associates gave them a good reason to continue their adventure in the business district of Manhattan. They parked in a city lot and began the long, cold walk to the man’s office. Pamela and Johnny marveled at the various characters that made up the hordes of crowds on the catwalks. As exciting as it was, it left them with an unusual feeling of chaos and disorder.
Jason, acting as a guide, seemed in control. He skillfully guided Pamela and Johnny through the labyrinth of humanity. They finally reached the building of their destination. He goes up the elevator, down the hall, through the security doors. They had finally made it.
While Jason consulted with the gentleman in the office, Pamela was busy in the anteroom talking to Johnny. Everything seemed to be going quite nice.
It was late as the trio left the gray office building. Impossible as it seemed, the stark reality was that the crowds on Manhattan’s streets and sidewalks had at least doubled. Stick together, stick together, Pamela thought as panic began to rise.
Pamela and Johnny half ran, half walked to keep up with Jason’s brisk pace. Pamela gripped Johnny’s hand tightly. The crowds made it impossible to walk in a line all the time, but they kept one another on their toes. At last, they reached the busy post office. Together they entered. Together they walked down the steps to the mailboxes. Jason took the key from him, opened the box and retrieved the mail. They braced themselves for another encounter with the mad rush of the human mass.
Leaving the building, Pamela recognized a certain awkward lightness. Something wasn’t right. Pamela instinctively reached for her purse. She wasn’t there!
“Where is my wallet?” Pamela’s voice took on an artificial high pitch. She quickly rummaged through the miscellaneous bag that she had brought her lunch in. No wallet!
As the masses passed, Pamela felt sweat break out and panic rise. Jason’s face reflected emotion.
They retraced their steps. No, post office security had no idea about a missing wallet. No trace of him on the floor, or on the shelf. No wallet anywhere. The crowds surged in an endless stream.
Suddenly, it registered in Pamela’s mind! She had left her wallet-IN HER HUSBAND’S ASSOCIATE’S OFFICE! Pamela’s body heat dropped a degree. Yes, she was almost sure… she had left her purse on the floor next to her chair while she delivered Johnny’s lunch… UNLESS… Pamela knew that she had accompanied Johnny a few times. to… THE BATHROOM!
Quickly, they returned to the office building. The entrance was closed. No sign of any security guard. However, Pamela was sure. Her bag was there, hopefully, sitting innocently on the floor of the fifth-floor office anteroom. The only thing that gnawed at her brain was the thought that she maybe, just maybe, she had left it in the ladies’ room, accessible to anyone…
Pamela pushed the unpleasant thought aside. They made their way through the crowd, pausing for a few moments to put a particular credit card on hold. The rest would have to wait. Pamela wasn’t sure what credit cards she had in her wallet, and besides, she had a feeling, albeit a shaky one, that everything would be all right in the morning.
They traveled home, making light conversation and avoiding the fear that was creeping up on them.
That night honestly passed without incident.
The next morning, Pamela eagerly anticipated the happy news of the discovery of a lonely wallet on the floor of her husband’s partner’s office. Unfortunately, the joy never came. Instead of her, a terrible sense of intense fear gripped her heart.
“He didn’t find it? Are you sure? He looked everywhere for it?”
Yes, apparently he had. Persuading him to go in and search the ladies’ room hadn’t been very successful, but Jason managed to get him to at least recruit a woman to look into it. The results: NULL! ANY!
Pamela felt like fainting at that moment. There, in the recesses of her wallet, were credit cards, her passport, her green card, her birth certificate (since she needed it to travel abroad she hadn’t had a chance to put them away, how irresponsible, she told herself. ). now) her checkbook, her health insurance card, her social security card, her children’s social security cards… Pamela’s head took a very severe form of pain.
The phone calls began.
“Yes, I’m canceling,” Pamela heard herself say to customer service for each of the countless credit cards she thought was lost. The strange thing about her asking if recent purchases of hers had been recorded was that she was repeatedly told no. Why, she thought, why wouldn’t a thief use an irresistible credit card? She knew that a lost credit card in the hands of an unscrupulous character was like candy in the hands of a child. The same applied to her checking account. No recent transactions. Weird…
Then he noticed Pamela.
All of his ‘I’ was in that pocket. Pamela imagined her Canadian passport, her social security card, her too many forms of identification dancing mockingly before her eyes. What a fool she had been to walk around with everything when others keep documents like these under lock and key!
As Pamela made the calls to the various agencies involved with identity theft, her mind played back real-life videos of a vile terrorist walking the streets in the guise of a woman with a very Anglo-sounding name.
Pamela eagerly tried to file a police report on her lost (or, I guess, stolen) wallet. It became apparent that a police report would require an in-person visit to the nearest police station to the loss of her. Getting back to Manhattan was not going to be easy.
And as the gravity of the situation took hold of Pamela, she understood that obtaining a replacement social security card meant presenting authorities with a form of identification, such as a driver’s license, a birth certificate, a green card, a passport. . ..and that getting a replacement for the myriad other documents she had lost (or-gulp-stolen) involved presenting…the same various forms of identification. Pamela got lost in a sea, struggling for lifebuoys that weren’t there!
Suddenly, it hit Pamela like a ton of bricks. She was not an entity! A nobody! Without the documents that prove her existence, Pamela Williams officially does not exist. It was a thought that almost made me lose control. Suddenly, she wasn’t supposed to drive, she wasn’t allowed to leave the country… What if her parents needed her in Montreal? What if there was an emergency? And yes?…
Pamela’s mind refused to wander any further. She went to work frantically to obtain a birth certificate. That, she thought, would be the beginning of a passport, a US green card, a social security card, a license… Would the list finally end?
It seemed that all the apps also required a fee. A substantial one at that.
When the fee schedule caught Jason’s eye, he decided they should wait, just a little longer. Maybe the wallet still turned up at the office. Maybe someone had found it and would still report it. Nobody had used the credit cards, nobody had tried to withdraw money from the bank…
It was a ray of hope, but dim in light of the fact that Pamela was now having nightmares of a shadowy underground figure with her identity making her (or could it be him?) sinister rounds in the dingy nightclub hangouts where other terrorists. They meet to conspire.
Pamela put off applying for a green card for a short time. However, her task of retrieving her Canadian birthright continued. Enlisting the help of her former teacher, who was now principal of the school she had attended, she managed to receive a letter stating that she was Pamela Williams, known as such for x number of years. The precious letter was waiting on Pamela’s dining room table along with the many other apps she had purchased. She waited. For the time being.
Life took a different shape. It evolved around Pamela’s situation. She got up in the morning with the fear of having problems with her identity. She feels that children go to school with the same fear. While she was doing the laundry, Pamela dreamed of being rescued by a hero who had located her wallet. And while she was shopping, she decided to live in the shadow of an alien who had her precious documents. Though life danced happily around her in the form of health and family life, she was missing the beat altogether. Not only, it seemed, had Pamela’s identity papers been taken from her, but with them her inner happiness had been taken away.
Life went on. One morning, when Pamela was ready to submit the application that would be the catalyst for others once she was processed (her birth certificate), she picked up the ringing phone.
“Hello. “
“Pamela?” Jason sounded more cheerful than usual.
“Yes, how are you?” Pamela replied in the monotone that had recently taken over her voice.
“I have good news,” he said.
“Good news? What is it?” she asked.
“Guess what,” he said.
“Guess what? I can’t guess right now,” he said. “I’m so busy, what’s up?”
“Just guess,” he pressed. What would be good news now?”
“Who won the playoffs? I really don’t have time for games right now. What’s up?”
“It’s not about games,” Jason said. “It’s about something you lost.”
There was a long silence as Pamela paused to digest his insistence.
In a very low voice, almost a whisper, he said, “My wallet? Has anyone found my wallet?”
“They found him in the office. Sitting there, Pamela.”
“Wow,” he said quietly. “They really found it. Thank God! But, I don’t understand. Why did it take three whole weeks for them to discover my wallet lying on the corner of the floor?”
There was silence from the other end.
“Wow!” she kept repeating. “I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you.”
Pamela placed the receiver on its cradle and sat down. It had been three long weeks since she’d disappeared her bag. Three weeks filled with apprehension and dread. Pamela wanted to dance, celebrate, sing. Instead, she sat thoughtfully and simply basked in her new relief.
In fact, life has taken a refreshing new wave. Since that heavy moment in Pamela’s life, she has learned to be much more careful with her personal data. Her passport and her documentation are kept under lock and key. Credit cards and the Internet are treated with reverence. She and even she added identity theft coverage to her NJ homeowners insurance policy.
The incidents regarding the panorama of life are nothing short of amazing. Small but important changes are needed to acquire the priceless gift of peace of mind.
