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The Slice asked about things that had been lost and were still missed, even though they had negligible monetary value.

Gabi Tilley knew exactly what that question was all about.

Years ago, when the then-new downtown Spokane library was about to open, some fixtures at the previous site were auctioned off.

Gabi went to the sale, hoping to score a classic file cabinet. But those were, as she put it, “Way out of my price range.”

However, she did acquire a small stool. You know, the kind used to help people access higher shelves.

“I loved that little stool,” she said. “Thinking about the hundreds of little kids that had used it to reach a book.”

Then her mother-in-law came for a visit. She was having trouble getting in and out of their truck. So the library stool was called to duty.

During that visit, Gabi’s husband took his mom up to Canada. And the stool accidentally got left behind, somewhere up there.

“I still miss that stool,” Gabi said.

But maybe, just maybe, some Canadian children are putting it to good use as they try to reach DVDs or top-shelf cookies.