A lost sock obituary The Borrowed Left
2021 – 2024
Est. 2021. Last seen July 2024.
- Wool blend, oatmeal
- Submitted by Returned, in part, by K.
The Borrowed Left was one of a pair of oatmeal wool-blend socks lent to K. on a cold night in November 2021, after a dinner that ran late and a walk home that was longer than anyone had said. They were meant to come back the next day. That was discussed.
They did not come back. At first this was an oversight, then a joke, and eventually an arrangement. The owner mentioned the socks about twice a year. K. wore them about twice a week. By 2022 both parties agreed that the socks lived at K.'s place now, and that this was fine.
The socks did well at K.'s. They went camping twice and to Lisbon once, which is more travel than they would ever have seen from the owner's drawer. The owner has seen the photos and says they looked happy, which is a lot to read into a pair of socks.
In July 2024 one of them was lost from K.'s washing machine. K. reported the loss promptly and in person, which the owner appreciated. Both parties consider this the correct outcome. The sock was lost in the home it had chosen.
Returned, in part
K. has since returned the surviving sock, washed and folded, with a note that says "sorry about the other one." The owner has accepted it. Relations remain good, and K. has since borrowed a scarf.