Best Things to Find in a Coat Pocket

Ranked in the order you'd want to feel them with your fingertips on the first cold day of the year.

Entries
10
Category
Stuff
Updated
  1. A folded bar receipt beside an empty glass on a wooden bar top.

    10. A Receipt From a Good Night

    A bar receipt from last winter, folded in quarters. The total is surprising. The tip was generous. A record of a night that past you had, kept entirely by accident.

  2. A cheap ballpoint pen sticking out of a coat's breast pocket.

    09. A Pen That Works

    A ballpoint from a hotel or a bank, found exactly when someone asks whether anyone has a pen. It writes on the first try. It is not yours, and it will not be yours for long.

  3. A single wrapped round mint in an open palm-sized coat pocket.

    08. A Wrapped Mint

    A single mint in a wrapper, slightly crumbly at the edges, from a restaurant you don't remember. It is still fine. Given the meeting you're about to walk into, it is better than fine.

  4. A clean folded tissue tucked in a coat pocket in a dim movie theater seat.

    07. A Clean Tissue

    Kleenex launched in 1924 as a cold cream remover and was sold for noses by the 1930s. A clean one folded in a coat pocket is found by touch exactly when needed, usually in a dark movie theater. Not to be confused with the dishonorable mention.

  5. A plastic gift card wedged in a coat pocket next to a receipt.

    06. A Gift Card With Money on It

    A card from two birthdays ago that still has a balance, for a store that is still open. Both conditions must be met. It is the only time a gift card becomes a gift.

  6. A single knit glove lying on a snowy doorstep.

    05. The Other Glove

    The partner of the glove you have worn alone all winter, or of the one you threw away. It was in the coat you didn't wear. If you kept the first one, this is a reunion. If not, it's a tragedy.

  7. A small sealed heat packet on a snowy bench beside a pair of mittens.

    04. A Hand Warmer

    An unopened packet of iron powder, salt and carbon that heats up as the iron rusts, reaching about 165 degrees Fahrenheit in roughly 20 minutes and staying warm for hours. Found on the coldest day. Chemistry, in your pocket, on your side.

  8. A small tube of lip balm with its cap on, resting in an open coat pocket.

    03. Lip Balm

    Charles Browne Fleet

    Lynchburg doctor Charles Browne Fleet made the first ChapStick in the 1880s as a foil-wrapped wax candle, and in 1912 John Morton bought the rights for five dollars. Finding one in a coat is the only way anyone finds one. They vanish at the same rate.

  9. A faded paper ticket stub on a dark coat lining, torn along the perforation.

    02. A Concert Ticket Stub

    A paper stub from a show last winter, soft and faded. It is the only proof the night happened, now that tickets live in phones. It goes on the fridge, then in a drawer, then into the pocket of a different coat.

  10. A folded paper bill half out of a wool coat pocket.

    01. Cash From Last Winter

    A crumpled bill folded small, left by a past version of you who is now your favorite person. It has held its value, which is more than the coat can say. It will be spent today on something you do not need.

Honorable mentions

  • A ring of house keys on a coat hook beside a second, newer set.

    The Keys You Already Replaced

    The keys you lost, found in the coat you were wearing when you lost them. They open everything. You have already paid the locksmith. Keep the two sets together this time.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A crumpled tissue at the bottom of a coat pocket, seen from above.

    A Used Tissue

    Balled up and stiff, from a cold in February. It crumbles in your hand. At the time, the pocket was the only place to put it, and there it has waited, faithfully, ever since.

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