The rolling coat rack

Coat racks in office lobbies stay bolted to one position, chosen once by someone else and never revisited. The one in the fellowship hall basement was never given that luxury; four casters bear its full weight, and it migrates by season, by event, by whichever volunteer decided the corner by the kitchen was blocking foot traffic again. The frame is a single vertical pole terminating in an umbrella style crown of hooks, twelve total, though only nine still hold their rubber caps, the other three worn to bare metal that catches wool coats in a way nobody has fixed with anything more permanent than a strip of electrical tape. Two of the four casters spin freely; the other two have developed a flat spot each, from months spent parked under the weight of winter coats during the cold months, and announce themselves with a specific stutter audible from the next room. It rolls best when pushed, poorly when pulled, a distinction passed hand to hand rather than posted anywhere, so that a volunteer's first push in the wrong direction tends to be their last. During Vacation Bible School it relocates to the entryway, hung with lanyards instead of coats; during Advent it returns to its usual post by the kitchen, where the crown of hooks briefly holds more weight than the base was rated for, every single December, and has not yet failed.

R. Quist