What I Carried

Left front pocket: Loose change, including five quarters, two nickels, and seven pennies. Three keys on a blank split ring. The kind that is difficult to spread, then I have to slide the key on the end and around almost three hundred sixty degrees until it slips past the other end. Probably about three hundred fifty degrees, but it's hard to measure with a protractor. A clean red folded bandana. A small red apple. If I got a change purse, I wouldn't have to worry so much about the tiny hole that is starting in the bottom right corner, but it would take up more space.

Right front pocket: A red Swiss Army knife. Wenger Classic 17 containing large blade, spring-loaded scissors that I could use with one hand, Phillips-head screwdriver, wood saw, flat blade screwdriver with bottle opener, can opener, nail file, corkscrew, awl, tweezers, toothpick. Mobile telephone. Blue unlocked RAZR V3. It's easy to answer a call by flipping the phone open, but the hinge seems flimsy and will probably be difficult or impossible to replace if it breaks. A tiny yellow LED flashlight that can be turned on by squeezing. I can't read the advertisement that was printed on the side any more. A clementine orange. If I had a belt pouch for the mobile phone I could carry something else.

Right hip pocket: Black leather wallet containing driver's license, medical information card, business card for my primary care physician, Visa credit card, American Express credit card, Visa debit card that I could use at an ATM, bus fare card with probably more than seven dollars balance but I forgot to check, three $20 bills, two $5 bills, seven $1 bills.

Left hip pocket: Clean white, slightly frayed, folded handkerchief.

Shirt pocket: Three ball-point pens. Two mechanical pencils. The pens and pencils are OK in the shirt pocket because of the clips. I don't have to worry too much about the pens and pencils falling out if I lean over.

After I close the front door, I can lock it with one of the keys on the ring in the left front pocket.

In the park, the ground is covered with acorns. Some of the ones that haven't been stepped on are in perfect condition. Smooth, hard, dark brown kernel, gracefully curved around the middle, with a distinct point but not sharp enough to draw blood if I press with my thumb. Cap duller, softer, and rougher. If a cap falls off, the top would be disappointingly flat and mottled, with an annoying dimple. There is a trash barrel in the corner, so after I eat the apple I can throw away the core and fit probably fourteen acorns in the front left pocket. But I only want eight.

After the machine on the bus deducts $2.75 from the fare card, I can't read the new balance quickly enough. When I sit down, I can't catch seven of the acorns before they fall out of the left front pocket, and three bounce onto the floor. I can't find one of them. When I push the acorns below the bandana with the change, I don't have to worry so much about having them fall out again, but there might be more pressure and abrasion on the hole. If I moved the acorns and the change to the right front pocket, I wouldn't have to worry so much about the hole, at least until they started to wear another one in the bottom left corner of the right front pocket.

Walking downtown, I could eat the clementine but I can't see a trash barrel and I would have to carry the peel.

My business is transacted quickly and easily. The five new $100 bills can fit nicely behind the three $20 bills, two $5 bills and seven $1 bills in the wallet in the right hip pocket. If I had more room in the front pockets I could move the wallet to the front. I wouldn't have to worry so much about pickpockets, and it might help my back pain.

I can eat the clementine now, and throw away the peel in the trash barrel at the bus stop. Eating on the bus is prohibited. I could use the toothpick from the Swiss Army knife to remove a bit of pulp caught in my teeth, but I can probably loosen it with my tongue instead.

After the machine deducts another $2.75 from the fare card, I can see that the remaining balance is $1.25.

In the park, I could have replaced the lost acorn.

I can open the front door with one of the keys on the ring in the left front pocket.