Unclaimed

The fifth mug has been in the back of the cabinet for fifty-five days.

I know the number because I wrote the order date in the facility log the way I write everything else. July 3rd. Ceramic, plain, no team logo because the requisition catalog doesn't carry Guardians branding below a minimum order of twelve, and I wasn't ordering twelve mugs. I was ordering one, and the system doesn't allow that, so I ordered four and got five, because the fourth line item auto-filled a bulk discount tier I didn't ask for. That's the whole story of how it got here. Nobody chose it. A pricing rule chose it.

Black Samson found it Wednesday. He was reaching past it for his own — chipped handle, he's asked me twice not to log the chip as damage, and twice I haven't, because a chip isn't damage, it's a mug that's been used — and his hand stopped on the fifth one instead. He turned it over. Looked at the bottom like there'd be a name stamped there. There wasn't. He asked who it was for.

I told him the truth, which is that it isn't for anyone. It's for the fact that four didn't round down to a number the system would sell me. He asked if that was really it, and I said yes, and he believed me, because it is the truth, and because I've gotten good at saying true things that end a conversation.

He put it back exactly where he found it. Didn't push it toward the front. Didn't push it toward the back either.

I've created three administrative categories since March for situations the standard forms don't have fields for. I have not created one for the mug, because I don't think it needs a category yet. A category is a decision about what something is. Right now it's still just an object that arrived and hasn't been asked to leave.

Across the hall, the lamination on the Monster Girl and Robot nameplates is holding up fine. I checked it this week — a two-minute task, wipe the dust off the equipment room door, confirm the plastic hasn't yellowed. It hasn't. Pending — Dimensional Operations is not a status with a clock on it. I don't mind checking on something that isn't asking to be checked on.

The mug stays in the cabinet. Day fifty-six starts tomorrow.