The Vanishing Lunch

Maya always brought her lunch to work in the same blue lunch bag. For two weeks, though, something strange kept happening. By early afternoon, her lunch was gone from the office fridge. At first she thought she had simply forgotten it at home. But she checked twice and knew she hadn't.

Maya selalu membawa makan siangnya ke kantor dalam tas bekal biru yang sama. Namun selama dua minggu, sesuatu yang aneh terus terjadi. Menjelang siang, bekalnya sudah hilang dari kulkas kantor. Awalnya ia mengira ia hanya lupa dan tertinggal di rumah. Tetapi ia sudah memeriksanya dua kali dan tahu itu tidak benar.

She mentioned it to her coworker Oscar, who sat at the desk next to hers. "Maybe someone's taking it by accident," he said. "I've seen that happen before in big offices like this."

Ia menceritakannya kepada rekan kerjanya, Oscar, yang duduk di meja sebelahnya. "Mungkin ada yang mengambilnya tanpa sengaja," katanya. "Aku pernah melihat itu terjadi di kantor besar seperti ini."

Maya wasn't convinced, so she decided to pay closer attention. On Monday, she wrote her name on a sticky note. She stuck it to the bag before leaving it in the fridge. By one o'clock, the bag had vanished again, sticky note and all.

Maya tidak yakin, jadi ia memutuskan lebih memperhatikan. Pada hari Senin, ia menulis namanya di kertas tempel. Ia menempelkannya di tas itu sebelum menaruhnya di kulkas. Pukul satu, tas itu lenyap lagi, lengkap dengan kertas tempelnya.

That evening, she stayed a little later than usual and watched the kitchen from her desk. Around noon the next day, she saw a young man from the marketing team walk into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took a blue lunch bag without checking the label. He was already halfway down the hall before Maya caught up with him.

Sore itu, ia bertahan sedikit lebih lama dari biasanya dan mengawasi dapur dari mejanya. Sekitar tengah hari keesokan harinya, ia melihat seorang pemuda dari tim pemasaran masuk ke dapur. Ia membuka kulkas dan mengambil tas bekal biru tanpa memeriksa labelnya. Ia sudah setengah jalan di lorong ketika Maya berhasil menyusulnya.

"I think that might be mine," she said, trying to sound friendly rather than annoyed.

"Sepertinya itu milik saya," katanya, berusaha terdengar ramah, bukan kesal.

The man looked embarrassed. "I'm so sorry! I just started last week, and someone told me this fridge was for anyone to use. I have the exact same bag, and I honestly didn't check the name."

Pemuda itu tampak malu. "Maaf sekali! Saya baru mulai bekerja minggu lalu, dan seseorang bilang kulkas ini boleh dipakai siapa saja. Saya punya tas yang persis sama, dan sejujurnya saya tidak memeriksa namanya."

Once they compared bags side by side, the mix-up made sense. Both bags were the same shade of blue, bought from the same shop near the station.

Setelah mereka membandingkan kedua tas berdampingan, tertukarnya itu masuk akal. Kedua tas itu berwarna biru yang sama, dibeli dari toko yang sama dekat stasiun.

Maya laughed, more relieved than upset. "At least now I know I'm not losing my mind."

Maya tertawa, lebih lega daripada kesal. "Setidaknya sekarang saya tahu saya tidak sedang kehilangan akal."

The new employee offered to buy her lunch to make up for it, and she happily agreed. From then on, Maya wrote her initials on her bag in permanent marker. The mystery of the vanishing lunch was finally solved.

Karyawan baru itu menawarkan untuk mentraktir makan siangnya sebagai tanda maaf, dan ia dengan senang hati menerimanya. Sejak itu, Maya menulis inisialnya di tasnya dengan spidol permanen. Misteri bekal yang menghilang itu akhirnya terpecahkan.