Icy the Snowman spent the day looking for Hatman’s car keys. An igloo on the front lawn of the Lair Legion mansion melted, leaving behind soggy apparel which included a pair of speedos, a t-shirt, and a bra. An ice troll was throwing a party and his party suddenly appeared in Icy’s igloo. When the party left for another dimension, it left behind some mementos.
    Icy used his broom to try to fish the clothing out of the morass. He nearly fell over in his attempt. He stopped and sighed. Then, he decided to ask Hatman if there was a rake on the property.
    Icy made his way up the front walk of the mansion. He let himself in and wandered through the mansion to Hatman’s office. When he knocked on Hatman’s door, Hatman said, “Come in.”
    Icy opened the door to Hatman’s office, but he couldn’t see Hatman. “Excuse me, Mr. Hatman?”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Over here.”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Over where?” Icy asked. A hand came up from behind Hatman’s desk and waved to signal its location. “Why are you under your desk?”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m looking for my car keys”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh. Is there anything I can do to help?” Icy asked.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes, I’m sure my car keys around here in the office. Could you look around?” Hatman said from under his desk.
    Icy began by examining one corner of the office. There was a small table with a few papers on it. He looked under the papers. No luck. He looked on the book shelves and in the ‘in’ and ‘out’ boxes on Hatman’s desk. He looked under the chairs but couldn’t find them. Icy was more imagination than reason. It occurred to him that Hatman’s car keys were tainted by ‘wandering’ magic. It was the only answer Icy could come up with for why neither he or Hatman could find Hatman’s car keys. Icy said to Hatman as he left the office, “I’m going to check the rest of the mansion.”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No it’s ok I found them,” Hatman said. But Icy didn’t hear as he closed the office door behind him.
    Icy wandered in the living room of Lair Legion. CSFB was on the couch watching TV. His attention shifted from Larry King to Icy scanning the floor. “What are you doing?” CSFB asked.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m looking for Hatman’s car keys. I’m afraid they’ve been tainted by magic.”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Magic? From the Ice troll?”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, I don’t think the Ice troll is that diabolical. Somehow Hatman’s car keys have been tainted by ‘wandering’ magic.”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can I help look for them?”
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sure, but stay alert. Once you think you’ve found them, the car keys can run to another location like under a seat cushion or behind the TV.” Icy said.
    CSFB and Icy started lifting up the cushions on the couch and chairs. As they were searching Magweed and Griffin came in.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hey what are you guys doing?” Mageweed asked.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We’re looking for Hatman’s car keys,” CSFB said. “They’ve been tainted by magic.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oooh, can we help?” Magweed asked.
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sure,” Icy said. “But be careful, these car keys are resourceful.” Icy searched some book shelves, CSFB looked under the couch, Magweed and Griffin looked under the coffee table. Then, Icy looked behind the TV and CSFB checked the drawers under the bay window seats.
    An hour later, after Glory joined the search Icy stood up and said, “Listen I think we should move the search to another room. But one of us should stay behind in case the car keys move back to the living room.” All of them nodded in agreement.

to be continued

I don't usually have a problem with keys, but every pen I've ever used at work has been infected by that wandering magic stuff. Frankly, it should be outlawed... Can you imagine how many man-hours of productivity the nation's economy loses as a result of that kind of thing?

Oh, and a very fun story too!

I don't think you'd want Icy to help you find something...he'd have homeland security on your pen.

Thanks

The group broke up and searched the rest of the mansion. After they concluded that the car keys were not in the mansion they moved the search outside.
    It was later in the evening when Dancer, Glory, CSFB, Magweed, Griffin and Icy were gathered on the front lawn of the LL mansion. They wore oarnge vests and had flashlights. Icy held a metal detector. A few of them were drinking coffee and huddled next to each other for warmth. There was a solemn feeling in the atmosphere as everyone looked at the ground or at each other.
    Icy orchestrated the search. Everyone lined up shoulder to shoulder with flashlights in hand. The plan was to move slowly down the front lawn in a line to make sure every square inch was covered. “I know it’s late people, but we won’t let Hatman down.” Everyone became enthusiastic. They shared a determined energy to search for Hatman’s car keys.
    They began moving slowly down the lawn. Occasionally, someone would shout out, “I found something” but it only turned out to be a small rock or in one instance a bottle opener.
    A little later, a vehicle pulled into the driveway of the LL mansion. Everyone’s attention turned to the vehicle. It came to a stop and Hatman got out. He whistled as he walked up to the front door. Then he saw everyone and called out, “Hey what’s everyone doing?” The crowd turned to Icy. Icy put down his metal detector and said, “Well we didn’t give up.” There was a non-verbal agreement among Glory, Dancer, CSFB, Magweed and Griffin that they would discontinue the search for Hatman’s car keys. From that point on they became wary of Icy’s assement of situations, suspecting that Icy’s innocent perception of things is not always accurate.