I felt too chilly to keep my hands outside any more. My pockets were full of items I've collected since walking the train track this weekend which meant I had to make a decision; what to keep and what hand get's to stay warm inside the empty pocket. I sat down on a fallen log a few meters away from the tracks, took out a dirty old white tee-shirt from a Walmart plastic bag and laid it on the ground and began to empty my pockets. Several coins, a couple of nails, an empty sandwich bag, a small wall hook, a tobacco chew container and some felt from the left pocket. In the right I had collected a handkerchief, a glass whisky shooter (unfortunately empty) and carpenters pencil. I would do anything for a backpack, each of these items could be useful but the plastic bag held all my clothes and food and I wore no coat to find extra space.
I folded the old shirt into holding all the items, found a long enough stick and wrapped everything up into bindle. I wasn't ready to get rid of anything yet. In time I'll find some common folk like me and might be able to trade for something more. Some matches or even socks. By tomorrow I'll be able to make it to down, yeah, and maybe even find a church giving out care packages.
