Week 5 paragraph contest

[Snowbird]

Merry Prankster will be announcing the winner of week 4 as soon as he makes his decision.
There were some excellent ones as usual.

[Merry Prankster]

The Prankster has read all of the submissions at least twice.  His reaction:  How the heck did I get this job?  Can I resign?  These are all too good.

Seriously, my hat is off to each of you.  The real winners are the people who read these wonderful paragraphs.  Because the quality is so good, my decision will be entirely subjective.  I will declare this week's winner tomorrow between 6 and 7PM by modifying this post.

I have posted my own offering to contest (I know it doesn't count).  A note of caution:  The post deals with sensitive subject matter, a daughter's decision to terminate life support for her father, so please do not read it if it might cause painful memories to resurface.

I'm back but the decision hasn't gotten any easier.  So here goes......

All of the pieces were terrific so my decision is entirely subjective.  Snowbird---You found my weakness.  I love stories that confound the reader's expectations.  You certainly confounded mine.  Well done.  You are the winner so please provide the sentence for Week 5.

[Snowbird]

Hey, what an honor that is!  To win over all of those creative paragraphs is amazing.  I think everyone who contributed should write a book! 

My starter is "She had looked everywhere and it was no where to be found." 

[Outlast]

"She had looked everywhere and it was no where to be found. She had hoped retracing her steps would work, but everyplace she went, the grocery store, the book store, the diner, all of them had said the same thing, 'Lady we haven't got your briefcase'. The only place left to look was the lab, but it was Sunday and if she keyed into the building today; questions would no doubt be asked tomorrow. Questions this scientist couldn't afford to answer until she knew the briefcase and the thumb drive with the only copy of her breakthrough formula on it was found. The idea that someone might have stolen it had been ever-present in her mind since she realized it was missing, but how could anyone outside her own lab know that she'd finally solved it?! At least she'd been clever enough to encrypt that data. Whoever stole her work, if anyone stole her work, they'd have a devil of a time reading it without her to decode it. The scientist's relief was short lived as her world went suddenly grey. The next thing she knew she was being stuffed into a trunk and a man with a foreign accent... Russian? was saying something about pigeons... "

[ponytail]

Cliffhanger! Love it....

She had looked everywhere and it was nowhere to be found. What the....? It had been in the same place for 20 years, and now who could say? Everyone was gonna be pissed. Goodbye, cruise ship. Goodbye, Mediterranean. Goodbye Venice, Dubrovnik, Rome, Marseilles, Barcelona...And she had been so looking forward to Dancing With the Stars at Sea. Where in the heck was that passport? 

[Prairie Dawn]

She looked everywhere and it was no where to be found.  She KNEW she packed it before their vacation.  She would never forget such a thing.  He might, but she would not.  She was determined.  She unpacked every bag, searched every pocket, nook, and cranny. Zipped and unzipped, unrolled his boxer shorts, rummaged through her make up bag, no luck.  Crazed, she checked her carry on, his carry on, her handbag, where was it? What a catastrophe! Panicked, in the wee hours of the morning, she reached into the mini fridge and grabbed a box of cream cheese.  While he slept, dreaming the dreams of a man with no worries, she molded the cream cheese into a tall cylindrical form.  It looked like her tube of Dove unscented.  She placed it on the counter and with a sigh of relief climbed into bed.........