Day 40 - Pocket Story

Pocket Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer

There is a theory that once matter is pulled into a black hole that a pocket universe is created.  As it turns out there are a great number of cosmic, terrestrial, scientific and spontaneous occurrences that can create pocket universes at any given time.  The number is much greater than you would imagine.  And so, the number of pocket universes just laying around out there is much greater than one would imagine.

It’s a little scary to think about.  Be careful where you step.  You never know where you might end up.

Not all pocket universes are created equal.  Some are universally big, some are infinitesimally small.  Some operate similarly to this universe; others are bound by their own set of rules.  Physics likes to imagine constants.  Pocket universes have their own dimensional definitions and demands.  They are not neat and clean like one would hope. 

It’s a dangerous place out there.  Forget the worrying about watching where you step – you need to hope that anywhere and everywhere you might step has something in common enough with our universe that it won’t kill you instantly.

Observable order is a very pleasant thing to have.  So is a vast amount of space time.  There’s nothing like knowing you have enough space time on your hands to take a breath, have someplace to do it in, and know that the universe won’t collapse on you while you’re doing it.  These excellent qualities that we take for granted everyday are an apparent luxury.  An infinite number of pocket universes are created and collapse at all times.  An infinite number of pocket universes have zero space time – there have no length of existence and they have no place to do it in.

By the time you think about taking that first step it’s too late you don’t have a foot left to step with. 

Thankfully with an infinite amount of possibilities within space time, there are always infinite amounts of pocket universes that will exist at all times.  A good fair share of these turn out to be highly livable.  With overcrowding going the way it is in city centers, there’s a decent chance your apartment may end up in a pocket universe someday.  No neighbors would complain about your loud music or awful smelling food then.  Unless of course one of the characteristics of your pocket universe was that other people could hear and smell it.  But that’s another story.

Mario quite literally kept a pocket universe inside his pocket.  Not many pocket universes are the size and shape of a pocket, and fewer still are able to be controlled to the degree that they can behave like a pocket.  Mario was very very lucky in this regard.  He didn’t set out to be.  He had no knowledge of astrophysics or Inflationary Theory.  He wasn’t performing some mad scientist experiment.  There was no magical spell or device that granted him a personal pocket universe.  He just stumbled across it one day at a thrift store. 

Mario bought a pair of used jeans and when he put his car keys in his pocket he lost them for three hours.  At first he simply believed he had misplaced his keys.  After an extensive search around his apartment, his brother’s house and his ex-girlfriends loft where he occasionally still spent the night, Mario was ready to believe that the keys were gone.  Then, after shrugging and casually placing his hands in his pockets he found them.  Mario felt the fool.  He assumed he had somehow forgotten he had his keys on him.  It was an idiotic mistake and an idiotic waste of an afternoon.  Well, except for the time he spent at Molly’s place.  That was no mistake and that was no waste of time.  After certain afternoons like that one, Mario always wondered why she was his “ex” girlfriend and not his “girlfriend” girlfriend.  Apparently they worked better off the record than on.

Mario was not the fastest student out there.  It took several lost and found fiascos before he began to suspect there was something awry with his pants.  Some people would get rid of the pants.  Not Mario. They were good looking jeans.  They fit just right and they were comfortable.  There was no way he was ditching these pants just because he wasn’t sure if he could find something once he put it in his pocket.

Mario ran his own experiments. He began by putting unimportant items into his pocket.  That way, if he lost them, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.  He added item after item after item.  It turned out his pocket could hold a lot.  Very handy if someone wanted to carry lots of items that were small enough to fit into a pocket.  You weren’t going to be able to carry a change of clothes or your computer or anything like that.  Just a lot of pens and pocket change.  Other than being a minor convenience and a novelty trick at parties, it didn’t do very much.  And it was easy to lose things in his pocket pocket universe.  The pocket universe wasn’t infinite.  It was barely larger than a medium sized living room.  But really, when you’re trying to find extra space inside your pocket that can be too much space.  There was no order, no filing system.  Just things crammed into a fairly large and open space. 

Mario found he wasted a lot of time reaching into his pocket and feeling around, just hoping to come across an item, any item.  There was no way of telling if you were going to find the time to properly dig around until you found your item.  Quite often Mario would have to take his pants off, turn them upside down, and shake them until everything would tumble out all over the floor.  Hide everyone’s keys at a party – it’s a funny joke.  Dump ten thousand jelly beans out on your friend’s floor, they won’t be so happy.

As far as pocket universes go, Mario was fairly satisfied with his.  The jeans lasted for a very long time and when the fabric began to wear thin, he made plans to salvage the pocket and sew it into a wallet.  Unfortunately, the pocket universe collapsed before he was able to make the transfer.  His house keys, a bag of peanut butter cups, seven dollars and seventeen cents in pocket change, and a red Hot Wheels toy car were the unlucky fatalities.