Argot Navis

I am not the first person who has sat at my desk at work. This is probably true for a lot of people, but I couldn’t think of anything better to open with. When I first got there it was relatively clean, but some of the previous occupants have left things behind. The stuffed purple bunny sitting on my monitor comes to mind. So, generally I’m not surprised if I find something near my desk that isn’t mine. The other day, however, was different. I was sitting, waiting for some pages to finish scanning, when I heard something fall on the ground. I looked down by my trashcan and saw this:

A packet of broccoli seeds. “That’s odd,” I thought to myself, and picked them up. Four things struck me as I looked at it. First, the packet is wrapped in packing tape. Second:

It is almost 30 years old. Third:

The packet was split in two and taped together so that it stands up on its own. I actually had it sitting on my desk for a few days thinking that it was just some sort of decoration. To be honest, I still have it sitting on my desk that way, even though I now know its true purpose. More on that later. Fourth:

The side opposite the broccoli has pictures of gulls on it. I wondered for some time about why someone would have made something like this, but eventually just accepted that maybe whoever made it really liked broccoli. My boss took a look at it, though, and figured it out pretty quickly.

Yeah, it’s a wallet. It’s sort of embarrassing that I didn’t realize that, considering I used to have a very similar wallet made of packing tape. She suggested I use it, but considering I lost a bank card and driver’s license when they fell out of my last tape wallet, I’m a bit reluctant. I think I’ll just keep it on my desk, and wonder where it fell from, and why it was there.