WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.639 On the first Monday of November. The rain arrived before dawn, 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.519 painting the windows of Marshal alimentary in rivulets and sending 3 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.599 everyone inside with Hunt's shoulders. I had been a teacher 4 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.559 here only six years, but already had started to treat 5 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:18.879 the rhythms of old buildings, the sifting of footsteps, the 6 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:21.960 smell of whre coats, the timers, untired radiators as something 7 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:25.719 like a second heartbeat. This morning, however, my own was uneven. 8 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.679 I'd promised my fifth grader's new reading game and couldn't 9 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:31.559 find any paper clips, not a single one in my 10 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:34.600 desknor in the class room supply cubby. A year ago, 11 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:37.679 I might have considered it bad luck. Now I blamed 12 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:39.960 everything on the ways of schools. Things fell into black 13 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.280 holes here while no one was looking, and then resurfaced 14 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:46.119 term after terremin unlikely drawers, boxes, even coat pockets. My 15 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.200 quest led me past the crowded hallway and into the 16 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:51.159 staff brak room that an official parliament of coffee cups 17 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:54.320 and half feedn granelle bars. The light was as stubborn 18 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:57.399 as always, flickering over five smashed chairs and a bulletin board. 19 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:00.479 Halfords cured with faded fundraiser flyers. But it was the 20 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.000 large orchadends against the back wall, the one I mostly 21 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:06.480 bypassed on autopilot that caught my attention. Now its bottom 22 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:08.879 right drawer, worn from decades of hands, provided the skulls, 23 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.680 stationary pencils, racers, rulers, the occasional bat of protractor, and 24 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.159 sometimes miracles like gloue sticks just before projects were due. 25 00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:18.879 The silhouette of a colleague bent over the coffee machine. 26 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:23.560 Mister Patel mauthed teacher, always unhurried, glanced up you two 27 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.480 malory in search of the ancients, he teased, voice lowered 28 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.879 with mock solemnity. I smiled, nodded, but all my focus 29 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:31.799 was on the old drawers. They pulled it open, half 30 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:35.879 expecting the usual detritus, half chewed pencils, loan staples, paper clips, 31 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.280 sawder together by rust. Instead, I found an arrangement that 32 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:42.040 made me pause enough that mister Peel pulse stirring his sugar. 33 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.280 It was pristine. I don't mean tidy, are merely restocked. 34 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:49.200 Every item lay with deliberate symmetry, as if a shore 35 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:52.760 room had arrived overnight for a single morning inspection. Pencils 36 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:55.640 yellow and lummish a line tip to tip. There were 37 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.120 three rows, one a modern, sleek brand and blue and 38 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:01.079 silver wrappers. The second, the stub yellow kind I remembered 39 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:03.760 from grammar school, their manufacturers name pressed into the side 40 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:07.200 in blockie gerophite gray ink. The third robe baffled me 41 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:10.639 entirely pale green pencils with a logo made from looping letters, 42 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:14.479 foreign yet somehow familiar. No put stacked without the tiniest jawgear. 43 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:18.639 Three kinds of rulers, your standard transparent inches and centimeters, 44 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.800 one old wooden thing heavy with brass edges, another stranger 45 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.879 bearing a ruler's notches, but labeled with increments, cold lines. 46 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.479 Packs of robbery pincrasors, all turned outward, as if awaiting 47 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.599 their first mudge. Even a tray of paper clips, perfectly 48 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:34.479 spiral caught the morning light more brightly than seem possible. 49 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:36.680 A breath whistled out of me, more a huff of 50 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:40.439 this belief than relief. I turned to mister Partel, When 51 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:43.159 did they start socking the straw like a Stationers display case? 52 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.520 He grinned, half conspiratorial. You've met the miracle drawer. Don't 53 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.719 question it too hard or you'll be reassigned to loss 54 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.319 and found duty. There was something in his turn across, 55 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:54.639 between good natured roping and a whisper of uncertainty that 56 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:57.280 inchered a much quieter question in me. Sure, I was 57 00:02:57.319 --> 00:02:59.759 in a hurry, my pockets full of lesson plans and attendants, 58 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:02.759 but as I dropped a handful of perfect paper clips 59 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:04.439 into my palm, I knew it wouldn't be the last 60 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:06.759 I thought about. The drawer where a joke or flock 61 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.000 of some odd bull staff custom. There was a texture 62 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.680 to its order that didn't fit the world I woke 63 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:13.639 up in this morning. I left for class, but kept 64 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.280 turning it over in my mind, the feel of the 65 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.960 smooth pencils, the odd satisfaction of fitting a robe back 66 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.479 the way I'd found it. By the time I finished 67 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.039 my third lesson that day, my curiosity had flowered into 68 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.000 something stubborn. I wanted to know why was the drawer 69 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.439 always like that? And why underneath the joke did it 70 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:31.840 seem everyone in the faculty had already asked and found 71 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.879 no answer. The day moved along in its practice shuffle, 72 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:37.800 one of my girls cried over a long division worksheet 73 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.000 a class Khan hid under a table, giggling, I sent 74 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:43.280 slips to the office, marks spelling quizzes each hour at 75 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.080 the school's familiar routines unfurled, each as precise and inevitable 76 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.879 as the changing seasons. Outside. Between periods, teachers migrated through 77 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:52.280 the holes in fits and starts, always ferrying a mug 78 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.319 of tea, a pile of books. The staff lounge with 79 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.319 its old tail flower, and that one chair missing a 80 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:59.439 rubber cap felt less like a retreat than a kind 81 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:02.439 of low lying village square. It was here, between the 82 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:05.159 microwave beeps and the latest notices, that the teachers found 83 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.919 a space to be both together and slightly apart. I 84 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:10.039 sat halfway down the table after the last belt glass 85 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:12.280 of water, sweating in my hand, my notebooks stretched up 86 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:16.360 and across probabilities and fractions. Misses Kranz arrived, her white 87 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:18.800 hair pinned in a loose twist, science texts tucked beneath 88 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.879 one arm. She surveyed the room, then tapped the table, 89 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:23.800 wants her signal to launch the day's first bit of 90 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.160 breakroom news. The eighth graders blew the fuse again, and 91 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:30.399 has anyone seen a new batch of colored pencils? Gone? 92 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:33.360 In two hours, said mister Patell, claiming his usual perch 93 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.279 by a mini fridge, But the drawer will sort it. 94 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.759 You watch behind his amusement was something dry in practice, 95 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.199 as if he'd made the same comment dozens of times before. 96 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.240 Other staff feltered in an out Mister Washington, with his 97 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:47.720 permanent crooks and good natured grown about winter concerts. Ms Ortiz, 98 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:51.199 who managed to lunch queue with dictatorial precision. At every 99 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:53.759 entry or exit, hands would drift toward their credenza at 100 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:55.680 the back, half out of need, half out of habit. 101 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:59.199 Someone always came away clutching exactly what they needed, a 102 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:01.959 fresh sharpnert, a box of markers, graph paper, and assize 103 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.240 no one else stocked the drawer, I soon realized, was 104 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:07.120 a presence in room as ordinary as the coffee pot 105 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.040 bub with its own set of rules. It had, according 106 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.199 to faculty lore, always been stocked, never by anyone in particular, 107 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:15.879 never reported as needing more, but never running low, at 108 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:18.600 least not for long. When someone joked about it, the 109 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.839 tone bored it on reverence or gentle rubbing. Nothing superstitious, 110 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.199 but not entirely dismissive either. Misses Krantz Cynic by default 111 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.319 treated it with a wink. Never trouble what you don't 112 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.079 have to fix. That's my motto. That air of easy 113 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.639 going acceptance mingled oddly with my memories of being here 114 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:37.360 as a child decades earlier. I remembered missus Futchell, my 115 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:40.160 own fifth grade teacher, sending us to the office for supplies, 116 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:42.040 or fixing up the stub of a pencil so many 117 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.199 times the paint had worn off. Occasionally a teacher would 118 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.079 produce just what was needed, a protractor, a box of crayons, 119 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.040 or those impossibly sharp pencils that always arrived on test days. 120 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:55.600 Back then, I noticed the resourcefulness, but never the logistics. Now, 121 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:57.879 as I traced the routines of adulthood, I found myself 122 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:00.560 more alert to those small foundational acts, how the right object, 123 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:03.519 at the right moment could turn a day round. Supplies 124 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:06.319 in a public school where a precious currency fought for, hoarded, 125 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:10.000 sometimes bestowed as secret gifts. Each year we started with 126 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.879 a budget that tightened like a newse before Thanksgiving. Yet 127 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.120 the drawer seemed blessedly outside of the cycle. New items 128 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:19.079 surface without receipts, and no one scoured forms or talis 129 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:21.680 looking for their author. If some staff jerked about the 130 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.959 drawer ferry. It was with more gratitude than skepticism. When 131 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:27.600 I casually asked who ordered the last batch of yellow pencils, 132 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.560 A mess for teas waved me off. They just appear 133 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:33.439 some one's cut us covered. Don't jinx it. But even 134 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:35.160 as I tried to let it settle, chalk it up 135 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.120 to Benign's staff tradition, maybe some secret supplicaball, I found 136 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.560 the drawer's perfection nagging at the edges of my concentration. 137 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.120 Most things in a teacher's day freight at the seams. 138 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.600 Lessons derailed, lunches went missing, the heat gave up. Every 139 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:49.680 Friday at two. Perfection was rare, and almost never this 140 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.920 quiet after end of day dismissal, when the holes started 141 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.079 to settle, quiet except for the echo of basketballs in 142 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.639 the gym, I found myself wandering back toward the break room. 143 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:00.360 I hadn't meant to, really, I'd come to check that 144 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:02.920 a storm window was closed in the far corridor, but 145 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.480 the credenza looked different in dusky light. No teachers joking, 146 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.879 no supply traffic, just the hum of the old fridge 147 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:12.560 and that age familiar drawwaiting the earlier order was gone. 148 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:16.560 Supplies had been decimated, half the pencils, erasers gone, handfuls 149 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:19.160 of paper clips scattered in the tray. The neat rows 150 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:21.439 were busted up, a tumble of objects left behind after 151 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.120 the post lunch gramble. This at least made sense. The 152 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:28.480 world returned to entry. When left alone, I smiled, wistful, 153 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:30.439 slightly embarrassed at having hoped for a miracle twice in 154 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:34.279 twenty four hours. I finished upstairs, checked my classroom, double 155 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:37.759 checked the storm window behind the music shelves. Back downstairs, 156 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.720 turning out lights, I gave into one last pointless habit, 157 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:43.120 a peek inside the break room before leaving. It was 158 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:45.000 almost dark, just the brittle glow of the eight it 159 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.879 sign and the hiss of radiators. I slid open the 160 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.720 stationary drawer, not even sure what I expected. Inside, Every 161 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:55.519 item was back in its place, rulers, note pads, pencils 162 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.079 arranged as if I compass point precisely spaced, each eraser recentered, 163 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:02.560 every pen cap or pencils appeared slightly different in type 164 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.639 and sheen, but all unused, all in perfect rose. The 165 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:08.519 modern blue and silver brand said the front. The stubby 166 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.839 ritual yellows pristine, and the strange green pencils quiet, unfamiliar, 167 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.959 almost glowing against the old oak. The paper clips sparkled 168 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:18.519 as if freshly poured from a packet. A strange for 169 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.040 illegal pots, mischief, and disbelief ran through me. I reached 170 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.319 for the notepit at the back, then hesitated my hand 171 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:26.120 hanging over the drawer. In that moment, the well felt 172 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:28.519 quietly suspended, as if someone else were about to step 173 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:31.279 in offer an easy answer. But I was alone, the 174 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:34.799 whole way beyond utterly silent. Without thinking, I shut the 175 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:37.519 drawer softly, half afraid any further noise would spook what 176 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:40.559 lived inside. On my way out, I spotted mister Patel 177 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:42.919 in the lot, balancing about it, umbrella in one hand, 178 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.440 cock keys in the other. He cocked his head at 179 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:49.080 my expression. I checked the miracle drawer. I said, it's 180 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.879 full again, perfectly ordered. Some one restopped it before I 181 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:55.799 could blink. He shrouded, grinning at the absurdity. That's just 182 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.320 how it is. Sometimes the pencils even change style, be 183 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:00.720 nut waistins. I arrived. He drive herself mad if he 184 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.720 tried to figure it out. But who does it? I 185 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.879 pressed the night crew, not that I've seen, he replied. 186 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.759 The last I checked, Tom just mops in here and leaves. 187 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.720 One year we blamed it on the PTA, But they 188 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:15.240 are not exactly neat freaks. Sometimes I think the draws 189 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.240 its own person. He chuckle, locked his car and hurried 190 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.480 off into the drizzle, leaving me in the humor quite 191 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.000 a verily evening. I stood there for a while, keys 192 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.320 twisting in my palm. Around me. The skull faded into shadow, 193 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.519 but all I could picture was the stationary drawer. It's 194 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:31.720 logic at right angles to everything else. I trusted if 195 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:34.480 it was a trick, that was a patient invisible one. 196 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:37.840 If it wasn't, I wasn't sure what it meant. That week, 197 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:41.120 the drawer became a quiet obsession. On Tuesday, I arrived 198 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:43.840 early and under the prudence of straightening chairs, slipped a 199 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:45.960 note pad out of the drawer. It was a style 200 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.840 I hadn't seen since, charted cream colored pages, the faded 201 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.039 district logo pressed askew, patted of faint blue lines at 202 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:54.080 the bottom of the pad. In light pencil, I marked 203 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.080 the last usable page with the number twenty three, and 204 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.519 that entry in my planner. By afternoon, the note bad 205 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.559 was gone, were replaced by another same dimensions, but the 206 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.879 logo was cleaner, the paperbright, and a tani unfamiliar watermuk 207 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.120 danced in the corner. Three stylized leaves with the data 208 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:11.200 couldn't decipher. I frowned. In all my years of ordering 209 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.639 school supplies, I'd never seen a set with this motif. 210 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:17.000 Out of curiosity, I checked the drawer again. Neat rose, 211 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.639 nothing out of place. After my third cap of coffee, 212 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:23.399 I fired down mister Patel as he bought himself some tea. 213 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.039 Did ye notice anything ought about to day's note buds? 214 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:29.840 I asked. He had me with an emerging spark of mischief. 215 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.519 You're a keeping score, now, aren't you. When I only nodded, 216 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.919 he smiled, If you really want to see the drawer, 217 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:39.559 misbehave triumptying it before the weekend. His eyes went mock. 218 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:42.679 Theatrical four were set on Monday, and I guarantee it, 219 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:44.879 you and me will do it together, banished the magic. 220 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.759 It was a dare, I couldn't decline. That Friday afternoon, 221 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:51.600 after bell, two teachers performing what felt like a silly ritual. 222 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.919 We lived at pens rulers sharpeners every last supply from 223 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.360 the drawer, placing it all in a half torn cardboard box. 224 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.759 We left the drawerbare no pencils, nor racers, not a 225 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:04.159 single sorry paper clip. We snapped a photo for posterity, 226 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:08.039 shaking hands for the camera. Good luck Monday, Mallory. Mister 227 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.240 Pettel said, if it comes back, you owe me lunch. 228 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.840 We locked up after echoing lightly, both refusing to voice 229 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:16.679 the odd hub the drawer might disappoint us. This once 230 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.559 on Monday, the drawer was full, not merely we stopped. 231 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.360 The entirety of its contents different whether there had been 232 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.120 modern pencils, I found a charismatic mess of designs, a 233 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:29.200 limited edition Marathon commemorator from twenty thirteen, A pale blue 234 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:32.000 pencil with a railway company's logo from who knows what decade. 235 00:11:32.039 --> 00:11:34.399 Another etched agreeing for a Marshall station as a store 236 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.360 that had closed before I was born. The notepads had 237 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:40.639 new covers worn, stamped with the Labyrinthine District logo from 238 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:44.559 my own elementary years. A plastic ruler included both centimeters 239 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.559 and a sequence marked lines the name Limerit was pressed 240 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:49.960 into cheap plastic, the kind you'd expect to snap after 241 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.840 a few uses. Where paper clips had been there now 242 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.159 sat a tangle of odd staples and colored brass, the 243 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.000 likes of which you only found at thrift shops with 244 00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:59.960 the backs of kitchen drawers. Mister Patel joined me by 245 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:03.159 the credenda, both of us staring. That's the oldest style 246 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.759 I've seen yet, he murmured, fingering the limight ruler. We 247 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.879 had those when I was a kid. For about a year. 248 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.759 I thought they'd vanished. We made an inventory. By this 249 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:15.440 point our curiosity fully engaged. There was no hidden bag 250 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.320 of fresh stock in the lounge, no new supply ship 251 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:22.200 meant that week. The janitora hale closet perscool tradition, was 252 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.559 locked in and touched. At lunch, I set our discoveries 253 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.159 gently in the center of the table. Anyone know where 254 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.440 these came from? I asked the group. Mister Potelmy the 255 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.279 games show face multiple choice a time capsule be janitor 256 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.440 with the basement supply cash. See else. I prefer d 257 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.200 left of verse from the fromdurizing booth, said misses Krant, 258 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:43.679 peering at a paperweight that looked like it belonged on madmen. 259 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:46.720 All joking aside anyone sees someone come in, asked him 260 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.039 mess for to ease licking her lips thoughtfully, Tom doesn't 261 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:51.919 have a key to this cabinet, only licky in the 262 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.480 causodian do maybe the night crew janitor Tom bold and 263 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:57.879 lappable wandered in with a mop A minute later, humming 264 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.559 as he swept up cookie combs. Hey see, Tom, I 265 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.480 piped up. Do you ever fill this drawer? He stopped, 266 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.080 blink twice, once at the rambling objects on display, once 267 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:08.759 at the circle of expectant staff. That drawer's got in 268 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:11.120 mind of its own, you ask me? He said, Finally, 269 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:14.200 I never touch it. Old Massas Lowery always said it 270 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:17.240 was blessed, but I just stay out it way. He winked, 271 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:19.879 carried a mopping, and left the questions floating like dust 272 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:23.120 motes above a half finished meals. At the next staff meeting, 273 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:26.720 the topic came up again, unprovoked. What of the younger teachers? 274 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.720 Am asked why? Wrinkled her nose as she recounted finding 275 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:32.320 a protractor with a brown logo last registered in nineteen 276 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.360 seventy seven. I thought, maybe, just maybe the PtiA did 277 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:37.399 a supplied drive. But nothing new in the mail room 278 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.799 some one else shrugged. Maybe it's our fairy godmother. At 279 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:43.000 least we don't have to fill out another supply form 280 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.440 for it. Through the week, I set up careful of 281 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:49.080 amateur experiments. I removed a single colored pencil at the 282 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:50.879 end of the day, then re entered before the bell 283 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:52.879 the next morning to see if it had been replaced. 284 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.879 Sometimes it was. Sometimes there was a different alder looking pencil, 285 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:59.840 but always the right count each time. I recorded the 286 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.919 for and after quantities, always multiples of free, never more 287 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.919 nor or less, regardless of what went missing. I tried 288 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:08.440 mark in an eraso with invisible and Katrich had learned 289 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:11.039 from an after school stem club. When I checked for 290 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.120 my marking the following morning, the eraser was present, identical 291 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:16.440 in size and scent, but the mark itself was vanished 292 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.879 to pristine. To believe it was my original, I left 293 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:21.840 a note bad torn at the corner and discovered it 294 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:24.120 swapped for one without any blemish, in a shade of 295 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.639 yellow and familiar even to ms for Teas, who prided 296 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.519 herself on catalog and district supply colors. The teacher's explanations 297 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.759 fell into two camps. Stubbornly practical, nightgroow must top hoop 298 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:35.919 as a prank, as somebody's got a key in time 299 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:38.639 on their hands and delightedly irrational. Maybe it's just luck. 300 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:41.240 May be the drawer listens to who needs what? The 301 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:43.200 gap putriin. These poles grew as I collecked at more 302 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:45.600 examples that fit neither story. Items are dated, or she 303 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.320 knew to belong objects with no possible source. Missus Krantz, 304 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:51.919 drumming her fingers on the table, suggested, it's all in 305 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.000 our heads. We remember the things that show up, not 306 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.000 the times. Its empty pattern making plain and simple. She 307 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:59.399 reis an eyebrow, as if daring anyone to contest her. 308 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.200 But even she couldn't explain the oddities of the rula 309 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:04.960 with lines, or the clashing batch of Bastell pencil colors 310 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.200 decorated with advertising slogans no one recognized. Monday, after lunch, 311 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:12.559 I called an informal meeting myself, mister patell, missus Krantz, 312 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:16.679 and mss or Tease each brought their own stories. Mess 313 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:19.080 or Teas recalled a green notepad with flowers that always 314 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.120 appeared during standardized testing, weak her annual good luck charm, 315 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:25.120 even though she'd never seen them in stores. Mister Petell 316 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:27.159 spoke of a favor at Red Big Pen that appeared 317 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.440 for two years, running only during parent teacher conferences. We 318 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:34.360 speculated skeptically, and not about the possibility of psychological and printing. 319 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.159 Did we so consciously notice only when the supplies fit 320 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.480 our needs, or with some one somewhere tracking our preferences 321 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.799 and restocking accordingly. Yet no one could recall ever writing 322 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:46.960 a request or asking. Supplies merely appeared, almost always matching 323 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.440 what we'd need, And just before we realized we'd run out, 324 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.360 I pulled out my inventory locks, spreading them across the 325 00:15:52.360 --> 00:15:55.240 break room table. The total shifted each time, but the 326 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.840 patent's hell always need, always matching the rhythms of our 327 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:00.600 share days. If someone took all the rooms, a new 328 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:04.759 assortment would drive, sometimes modern, sometimes oddly antique. Those who 329 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.720 had once borrowed odd sized erasers or novelty rulers often 330 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.960 found them restored the next day, only slightly altered, sometimes 331 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.639 with subtle upgrades. Rubber that didn't smudgin, a harder lead 332 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.759 pencil that wouldn't break mid worksheet. The longer I stared 333 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.000 at my notes, the less clear the boundary became between 334 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:22.000 plausible staff magic and something quietly and a nobly skew. 335 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:25.240 As a final experiment, I persuaded mister Pettel to join 336 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:26.919 me and empty in the hole drawer again, this time 337 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.879 marking the bottom of the drawer with a tiny X 338 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.399 and chalk. We both laughed attack ere, for we were 339 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:33.759 like kids on a treasure hunt, certain of finding were 340 00:16:33.799 --> 00:16:37.360 debunking hidden fairies. That Monday, the drawer was once again full, 341 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.480 the chalk X was gone. Beneath the organizer insert we 342 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:42.759 found only a faint smere, as if the wood itself 343 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:46.399 had shruged and reset. New pencils, new rulers, another strange 344 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:48.039 snow put with an out of date phone number for 345 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.159 the school's all main office. We stared at the arrangement, 346 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:53.440 half expecting someone to step out from behind the staff 347 00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:56.639 room curtain, clutching a clipboard and cackling. No one did. 348 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:00.000 After skiol lingering as the daylight soltned against the high window, 349 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.639 I found myself running a thumb along the organized rows 350 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:05.640 of pencils, feeling a growing companionship with the object itself. 351 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:08.920 It wasn't just a source of supplies any more. It 352 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.319 fell in a way like a participant. I considered how 353 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.480 often the things that sustain a community on the subject 354 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.720 of conscious thought at all, They sit quietly and eventfully 355 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:18.799 in the periphery, until one day you look and find 356 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:21.079 them far stranger than you had any right to expect. 357 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.920 One lunch, while the staff jerked about ghostly supply managers, 358 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:26.799 I quietly watched the teachers come in and out of 359 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:30.079 the lounge, Each, without thinking, seemed inevitably to reach for 360 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.680 the drawer and return with precisely what they needed, sometimes 361 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:36.079 in a configuration that made no outward sense. A triangular 362 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:38.359 ruler appeared in the very Dames Seskontz needed it for 363 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.400 a geometry demonstration, despite her not having mentioned it beyond 364 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:44.759 a martyred complaint and a faculty meeting week before. On Thursday, 365 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:47.000 she found it as continued tealing cartridge in the drawer 366 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.319 of the same shit once brought from home. My log 367 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:53.039 of small coincidences bullioned. When I tested by removing only 368 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.200 odd items, the drawer did not revert exactly. Sometimes objects 369 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.920 returned improved or in throbic styles, or even as our 370 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.359 variants connect attention to staff of hand remarks. When I 371 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.039 mentioned needing a numbering stamp for an upcoming class exercise. 372 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:07.920 The next week, one appeared, a wooden handled relic, though 373 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.279 still in working order, No staff confessed to dropping it in. 374 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.440 By now, mister Petel was equally invested. He mused aloud, 375 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:17.960 what if the drawers I dunno paying attention to us, 376 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:20.720 not in a spooky way, just responding fulfilling wishes. We 377 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:24.680 don't even bother articulating. The joke rankled specifically because so 378 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.680 many details refused to be sanded down by logic. The 379 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.200 objects plainly appeared tailored, not an extravagance, not as outland 380 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:33.079 as gifts, but as a thing you were just about 381 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.000 to want, not what he shouted about or put on 382 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.000 a list. I began to wonder, had I always received 383 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:40.680 exactly what I needed but never noticed until collecting these 384 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.319 oddities together. Was this the trick of the mine or 385 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:46.480 something else at play during planning periods? I can this 386 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:50.519 staff about their own experiences. Most shrugged, some grew sheepish, 387 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:53.759 as if embarrassed to admit the little helpful miracles they'd experienced. 388 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:57.119 Yet the stories fell into familiar shapes. A missing protractor 389 00:18:57.160 --> 00:18:59.480 replaced the day after favorite green note, but cheering up 390 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:02.319 Blum passed its supposed extinction, hard to find, staple color 391 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.680 reappearing without explanation. Each example solitary might have been ignored, 392 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.559 but together they built towards something richer and harder to dismiss. 393 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.079 The stuff gravitated back to the break room, teased and speculated, 394 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:15.519 but I observed a new pattern. No one really wanted 395 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:18.519 to solve the drawer. There was a comfort in its impossibility, 396 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.279 a hospitality as well as a mystery. The more I 397 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.400 press for answers, the more I wondered if I had 398 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:25.799 been trained all of us had to accept small generosities 399 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.880 without demanding a receipt. I confided some of these sorts 400 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.559 to missus Krant one afternoon, when we were scraping plates 401 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.039