BLUSTERY ARCTIC MORNING

The winds blew in last night and we've had gusts of 50-60 mph.
Of course, we had the windy rainstorm followed by a huge drop off in temperature, on garbage night.
Little Town has automated garbage pickup. The city assigns you a cart with a number and it's yours to care for. For nearly 5 years, we've had nary a problem with our green cart, until this morning.
No green cart as far as the eye can see. I assumed it blew somewhere, but not even within sight?
So, I spent 20 minutes driving through the sub-division looking for our cart, down every cul-de-sac. One fellow had three carts on his lawn, alas none were ours. I drove (mind you with that bitter cold whipping I wouldn't have lasted 5 yards) down the the major intersection where there were 2 carts lying on the corner. It was a long shot that ours would have travelled that far, but hey, stranger things have happened. I got out to check the numbers. Another van pulls up, another woman gets out with a little scrap of paper in her hand - also checking numbers. We exchange how we're looking for our lost litter containers. She checks the one and then says, "I guess I'll just take one." And she loaded up one garbage cart that wasn't hers. I wouldn't take a cart that wasn't mine, knowing someone must be looking for it.
Now I wonder who might've taken ours. I'm hoping one of my next-door neighbors brought it into their garage for safe keeping and will give us our garbage cart back this evening. Unless someone, actually took ours by mistake, but then where is theirs?
The Sanitation Dept. in Little Town got flooded with 1400 calls about missing garbage carts. Sure hope they turn up.
As humble as they are, garbage carts are a necessity and one thing I wouldn't want to do without - except I really only miss it, once a week, when we fill it and set it out to be relieved of its burden and ours. I wonder how we will cart away all our weekly debris and where our garbage cart now resides. I kinda miss it, even if it did just stand mutely in the garage as a sentinel to greet me whenever I pull into the garage. It was our garbage cart, spanking and sparkling new along with our house (except for the construction dust and grime)and the mail box. It all was new together and part of our life in Little Town.
Oh, Little Town will give us another one, but it just won't be the same. I know its number and I'll be looking for it.