Arriving at the airport, I discovered that my brother's flight had been delayed for an hour. Usually when I wait around the airport to meet a flight, I pass the time by watching planes land and take off, but that evening I had a bad headache. I thought the noise of jet engines might make it worse, so I decided to walk around inside the airport for a while. As I was walking by the shops, I happened to see a display of flight bags, which reminded me of my briefcase: I realized that I was not carrying it now. Quickly I tried to remember where I might have left it. Knowing that I had not stopped anywhere since I left the airline ticket counter, I concluded I must have put it down there. I hurried back to get it, but my briefcase was nowhere in sight. At first I was sure that somebody had just walked off with it, but then I realized there was a chance that whoever found it might have turned it in at the counter. I waited in line for my turn at the counter and then I described the briefcase and asked if by any chance it had been turned in. The agent shook his head. Then I glanced over his shoulder at the conveyor belt that was moving baggage from the check-in counter down to the loading area and shouted, "There it is!" But just as the agent turned to look, the briefcase reached the end of the conveyor belt and vanished from view.