linen · initialled E.M. · age unknown · owner unsure
a square of plain linen, hemmed by hand. one corner carries two letters worked in cross-stitch, faded to a watery brown — E.M., which is not your initials, and not, you think, those of anyone you have shared a roof with.
it came home from the dry-cleaner folded inside a winter coat you had bought second-hand. you noticed it weeks later, by which time it was easier to keep than to enquire. it now lives in the left pocket and emerges only when the cold puts water in your eyes. it has, twice, dried a stranger's.
possibly E.M. is dead. possibly E.M. is the woman behind the counter at the post office. you have not asked. the handkerchief seems to prefer it that way — passed along, without ceremony, in a pocket that also holds a loose button and the residue of whatever the kitchen forgot to wash out.
field-note · smells, faintly, of cedar and of someone else's soap.
receipt · small coin · letter · stranger · memory