While a pen may not be the most extraordinary object in the world, this writing utensil in particular has led to a blossoming friendship thanks to one woman’s determination to reunite it with its owner.
Lara Bertani and her husband were on a Delta flight from New Orleans to Atlanta after a weekend of festivities in January when she overheard a distressed man looking for a lost pen.
“Two rows ahead of me, in seat 10E, I heard a man ask the lady in front of me if she could see the pen he dropped on the floor. He seemed anxious to get it back. I looked too, but didn’t see it. But when we de-boarded the plane, I kept my eyes on the floor and found his pen!
“It was heavy. I could have thrown my back out,” she added.
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“I walked quickly through the airport and then around baggage claim trying to find him. I failed. Was he in the men’s room crying for his lost pen?!”
Bertani and her husband were shocked to arrive home and find that this was no ordinary pen, either.
Bertani told Good News Network: “I’m not actually sure what made the pen so expensive and I’m blanking on the brand of it. But I looked it up and it was worth around $100!”
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“Any pen over $5 is expensive to me so this [was] one fancy pen,” she added.
Upon calling Delta Airlines, she found that FAA regulations prevented them from telling her who was sitting in the man’s seat unless it was an emergency. The lost and found department also had no record of a lost pen.
Worried about whether the owner was “too shy to put in a report for a missing pen”, Bertani took to Facebook with a “Fancy Pen Seeks Fancy Owner” ad in hopes of finding the man.
“I’ve been happily fostering this pen for the last few days,” said the post. “From the photos, you can see I’ve given it a great home. But I’m sure it longs for its owner and I’m sure the owner is sitting at home, penless, and drowning his sorrows in fancy scotch. What if that pen has deep sentimental value to him?! We need to give this guy his pen back!”