20181105.0430

From time to time, I've had trouble with the zipper on the front of my pants. I'm not unique in that, I know; I've seen people wrestle with their flies from time to time, and I'm sure I'm far from alone in having seen people walk around with theirs undone. I've been such a person on occasion before, as I have noted, although I have tried--successfully, for the most part--to avoid being one since. A few days ago, though, I had a problem with the closure of my pants again, although it was not a matter of not having zipped my fly. Instead, it was another problem entirely.
What happened was this: I had gone on my lunch break at my day job, and, after I ate, I made a trip to the bathroom I've noted before. I did there what I needed to do, and, as I went to wash my hands afterwards, I noticed blood on my hands. A quick inspection showed me that I had cut one of my fingers again. It was an annoyance, but not a concern; I have a mild habit of biting my nails, which sometimes leaves my fingers bloody, and I work with paper and staples quite a bit, so I often find my fingers a bit bloody. But this time, I had trouble getting the bleeding to stop, despite my efforts to blot my finger dry, and the stinging that I began to feel seemed different than what I usually get from a fingernail partly torn off or a papercut. And I noticed that the front of my pants was covered in blood.
Evidently, I had caught the side of my finger in my zipper as I had closed back up, and I had not noticed it for long enough to leave rusting splotches across the crotch of my trousers. Given the work I do at my day job, I could have gotten away with doing nothing; I sit at a desk for most of the day, so the forming stains would be hidden from view, but I was set to teach that night, and I was mindful of earlier incidents involving my fly and my classroom. Consequently, I rushed back and forth across my hometown, going back home to change into another pair of pants and getting back to work just before the scheduled end of my lunch hour.
Even now, as I type this, I have the involved finger bandaged. It is a bright orange thing that calls attention to some of the more interesting gestures I have it in me to make, which I am sure will not have any unintended consequences at all over the next few days. It also makes typing just a bit more challenging than I like it to be, or it will for a little while. Over the longer term, though, it means I'll have to be careful about a few other things getting caught between my zipper's teeth than I had already been.