John McLoone

Some discoveries have been made.

I don’t like to lose things, but inevitably, it happens to all of us. This is a story in two parts. The first has to do with my pants. The second part is a mess.

I have several pair of identical pants in my daily rotation. I realized a couple months back that the back pocket where I put my wallet somehow had torn. I put my wallet there and a short while later felt it sliding down my left leg. I knew then there was a problem, and I kept my wallet in another pocket.

Fast forward to last week. I went in to conduct business as the local post office and found that I did not have my wallet. When I reached in to look for it, though, I learned that I was once again wearing “those” pants. I never felt it fall this time. I backtracked, and there it was waiting for me in the middle of the road. Lesson learned. I retired those khakis.

Part Two

That very same day, I was shuttling delivery vehicles when the next story unfolded. The van I needed to be driving did not start. This saga is a little more complicated.

I can’t do much when it comes to fixing things. I wasn’t reared in a home where there’s a workbench in the garage and outlines of tools on a pegboard wall. We had a hammer, screwdriver and an adjustable wrench and they seemed to go missing often, so we’d buy a new hammer, screwdriver or adjustable wrench.

I did pick up a thing or two in shop class in high school, and I’ve driven enough beaters that I can successfully jump-start a car. I set out on a mission to find jumper cables, because I know I own several sets, because like the hammer, the screwdriver and the adjustable wrench, I’ve bought new sets when they went missing.

I started to look through each vehicle, because having them in the trunk is a logical place to put them. Each search came up empty. That led me to the conclusion that they were in a garage, either at my office or at my home. The office garage is neat and tidy. The one at my house is not. Decades full of kids equipment, a piano, a large quilt box and things that actually belong in a garage are packed in there.

So, I started my search in the office garage, holding out hope that I would find a set of jumper cables in there. I did not. I was however able to catalog things in my mind that are located there for the next time I’m searching for something.

I turned to the home garage. We live in a house that’s more than 100 years old, so the garage is compact, one car at best, though I’ve never seen a car in there, so I cannot confirm that. I lifted open the door and did a search, realizing how many things I’d have to move around to either learn if my search was to be successful or not.

I found the jumper cables. It turns out they were at the hardware store. Just like the new hammer, screwdriver and adjustable wrench.