to worry I have a bagel eating ghost

[Permanentpanicmode]

Bought 5 bagels from M&S yesterday. Put the packet with 5 bagels on the table for the children to have for breakfast. When they open it to toast them, there were only 4 in the packet. DH is away on a business trip and all four children were in bed by the time I laid the table. I don't sleep walk or sleep eat....where is my missing bagel? Is this proof that spirits exist?

I really fancy a bagel now...

Any pets in the house?

Maybe there's someone living in your attic who pops out at night time to watch you sleep and toast himself a bagel.

No, no pets....and no crumbs anywhere. Packet was intact! Total mystery.....

What kind of fastening did it have? Was it one of those sticky ones where you pull the ends apart or a plastic tab that you kind of twist on? You need to examine it to work out whether one has actually gone missing from the pack, or whether there were only four in there to star with through some packaging error! And report back...

A sticky one where the ends come apart - my eldest son opened it this morning without paying much attention, so looking at it now probably won't help. I am 99% sure there were 5 in there when I bought them - because DH is away, that would have given each of us a bagel for breakfast.......but because I can't account for the 5th one, there is a 1% doubt creeping in!

No tiggy - they were M&S own brand..!

I wouldn't have felt guilty at all - we eat huge amounts of NY bakery bagels - I would have loved a free one.

Squoosh I am going to check the attic before bed!

Have you dusted for fingerprints? Checked the deeds of your house to make sure it's not on an ancient burial ground? Looked under your sofa for fat mice? WHERE IS THE BAGEL?!

If your son opened it, could the bagel have shot out the bag and be quietly residing behind the fridge?

A few years ago I was staying with DM for a few weeks - just the two of us in the house. Every morning when I went to make toast, there'd be about a half slice of bread in the top of the bag - sometimes a bit more, sometimes less. I put it down to DM's general weirdness, assumed she was using the other half to polish the taps or something equally mad.

About a week went by when I heard a shout from the kitchen one morning - it was DM. 'Could you KINDLY STOP eating HALF A PIECE OF BREAD'.

I'd thought it was her, she thought it was me. Neither of us could decide if it was a ghost, or if the other had lost it and was eating half a piece of bread in their sleep.

Few more days went by, one night I woke up in the night to get a glass of water. Turned the kitchen light on and there was an adult possum sitting on the bench with its paws in the bread bag.

Has my fil started living at your house. Mil finds creams on the floor in the morning and empty packages.... (Quickly runs to phone to check fil hadn't moved to ops house since mil out him on a diet and refused to buy anything extra so they have to go shopping every day)

There was a guy in Japan who had a woman living in his cupboard for a year before he noticed. She would sneak out and steal small bits of food. True story

Sweet dreams. :)

It's probably a ghost, yes. They are notoriously fond of carbs.

Crumbs not creams

OK, the bagel hasn't turned up....we don't live anywhere that possums could reside. I have checked all cupboards and there are no small Japanese people living in them. The fridge is in an integrated cupboard with a kick board so it couldn't have fallen underneath/behind etc....and fairly sure I haven't seen a strange FIL walking around at midnight.

However, no further bagels have gone missing from the bread bin - so perhaps the bagel eating spirit has moved on. That or I miscounted even though I know I didn't

In that case, you, your children and your entire family have had some kind of collective hallucination which has caused you to forget that you invited a pal over for a solitary bagel. It will be hard, but I suggest you call ALL your friends and check whether it was them so you can be sure you receive a reciprocal bread-based offering.