Our adventure began one night when Adeline was unable to fall asleep and peered over the side of her loft bed. She saw something lurking on the floor in the dark, between the bed and the wall. She quickly ran into her parents’ bedroom where her mom and Mamie (aka grandmother, aka moi) were resting. (Her dad was on a business trip to Japan.)

Upon seeing Adeline, her mother asked what was wrong. Adeline told her about the dark object by her bed. It was, she said, black and round.

Her grandmother sprang into action with an assortment of her usual brilliant ideas.

“Let’s use the Swiffer duster to reach down and get it out,” she said. Adeline ran to get the Swiffer. Adeline’s loft bed is about five feet off the ground and the bottom is solid, filled with drawers and shelves for storage. It sits close to one wall of her bedroom. This was going to be a tricky rescue.

We first stuck an iPhone down as far as we could to take a photo of the object, but the results were fuzzy.  Then Adeline climbed up on her bed and put the Swiffer duster down between the wall and the bed to try to reach the mysterious article.

This is when disaster first struck. Adeline lost her grip on the Swiffer, and it fell into the void.  Most distressing.  Now we were out one mystery thing and one Swiffer duster.

The next day, Mamie went to the store and purchased not one, but two new Swiffer dusters. One was three feet long and the other was an impressive six feet long.

When Adeline returned from camp that day, she and Mamie got right to work.  Back up in her bed, Adeline took the six-foot Swiffer and stuck it down the side of her bed. And, against all odds, she dropped the six-footer as well. Now we had three lost items.

As usual, Mamie did not give up. She grabbed the floor Swiffer and wrapped it with double-sticky back tape. However, the height of the bed made it difficult for Mamie to come up so Adeline had to take over. However, Mamie was not going to chance Adeline dropping yet another household tool into the abyss, so she taped it tightly to Adeline’s wrist.

These attempts were also unsuccessful since the implement was too long and unbendable. Sadly, the tape saved the tool, but nearly cut off the circulation in the young girl’s arm.

Mamie gave it a try as well and told Adeline to reach her arm behind the bed to grasp the lost Swiffer. As a result, Adeline’s arm got stuck between bed and wall, and Mamie had to dive off the bed and use her superhuman strength to pull the bed away so that Adeline’s arm was freed.

Finally, after more fruitless attempts with a broom, Mamie had a brainstorm.  Knowing Adeline’s talent for fishing, she asked her if she could find string and something to make into a hook.

Adeline quickly found a round keyring and opened it. Mamie tied some string to the hook and tied the other end to Adeline’s finger.

The master fisherwoman went to work, expertly moving the “hook” around and capturing first the big Swiffer then the little Swiffer. The celebration had begun!

Then, unbeknownst to Mamie, Adeline took the six-foot Swiffer and retrieved the original mystery item. Turned out it was a black sleeping mask covered in dust bunnies.

Mystery solved! Rescues completed! Teamwork made the dream work!