Dear reader, break out your magnifiying glass and powers of deduction. It's time to dust for fingerprints.
The other day I received a comment and then exchanged a flurry of emails with the lovely Staish, who hails from Brisbane and came across this intriguing discovery in the frame department of her local Ikea.
A Tollipop girl? In Ikea?? In Australia???
How did it get there? I have no clue. But we came up with some amusing possible explanations, none so good as Staish's speculation that perhaps the print had been "wistfully placed there by an Ikea staff member with a proselytizing case of Tollipop fandom." Although I also liked the scenario wherein we envisioned Ikea offering me a lifetime supply of Swedish meatballs in exchange for consent to display my work.
But I must say I do love the mystery. I love the thought of this little Tollipop gazing wistfully upon patrons halfway around the world at one of my favorite places to shop. Has anyone noticed her and felt mesmerized by the particular blue of her dress? Has anyone smiled at her improbable hair? Has anyone observed the jaunty angle of her birthday hat and the body language which clearly suggests she is waiting for a piece of cake?
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Update: The mystery has been solved, yet I still prefer to think of it as unfathomable...
Dear reader,
Last night I received an email from the lovely Simone, who came forth with information laying to rest our wild theories for once and for all. It was just as had been suggested--she took the Tollipop print, along with several others, to Ikea for frames and accidentally left this one behind. In spite of valiant efforts to track it down, she was unable to do so and had finally reached the point wherein she knew life must go on.
And then, behold! Simone visits this blog and sees, to her surprise, the picture of her missing print! On display at the very Ikea which assured her it was gone for good. I can only image the exclamations of delight and tears of joy to be uttered and shed at the impending (I hope!) reunion.
Thank you, dear Simone, for putting our minds at ease. Because we were cooking up some great conspiracies to explain this mystery!
But I must say, I find the whole series of events even more intriguing now that the truth has been revealed.
Consider this: what are the odds a Tollipop print would be misplaced by someone living upon the vast Australian continent, in the hinterland of Ikea, which someone else then discovered and arbitrarily put on display, only to be noticed by another Tollipop reader who stopped to take a picture and whiz it via the latest technology back to me, living halfway across the world in the barren stretch of Las Vegas??
You don't have to live in this town to know the odds are enormous! Simply colossal! Immense beyond my ability to comprehend.
So that, in and of itself, makes me happy.
Especially considering the odds of Ikea offering me a lifetime supply of Swedish meatballs pretty much just got swept off the table.