A is for abscond

LifLG says: 
abscond (ab-SKOND) verb
to disappear suddenly and secretly, usually to avoid getting in trouble. A person who absconds is an absconder. 

It was my third year of teaching. Just after dismissal one day I quickly crossed the hall, leaving my door open, to use the restroom. Most any time I left my classroom I locked the door, but this particular day I was in a hurry and, seeing as there were no students in my building at that time of the day, I didn't think there was any need to put forth the effort. Returning to my room, I looked around for my phone. It didn't take long for me to realize it was missing. I hurriedly began to check all of the places I imagined it might have been left as I rushed to a phone to inform my husband, who also worked for the district, that it was missing. Being the tech-clever fellow that he is Matt popped out his own phone, used the Find My iPhone app to determine that my phone was still nearby, and called the school resource officer for backup. They knew some mischievous student must have absconded with my phone and that there was no time to lose.

These two knights in shining armor jumped into the officer's car, followed the GPS signal to the spot where a school bus was waiting for high school students to load, and climbed aboard. At this fortuitous time Matt chose to enable the alert function of the Find My iPhone app, which causes the phone to emit a loud, obnoxious chime until the phone is unlocked. The nervous absconder tried to play it cool as the two men, each over six feet tall, approached his seat on the bus. "Where's the phone?" the officer boomed. The young thief tried to pretend he did not know what they were after, but the oh-so-odious tell-tale beep exploding from his pocket soon became undeniable.

And that is the story of how my phone and its thief absconded and were subsequently returned.