Hung Up

I think I just lost a battle with a pile of hangers.

I moved out of my house the first of November and have been living somewhat nomadically since then (In pursuits of buying a house... not because I thought I'd like to wear on people's good graces for a while). I have been in one place for a month now and just decided to set up one of those temporary curtain rods that expands. I hung up my clothes. This instead of continually placing them back in the rubbermaids they were stored in, once again negating the nice dryer-fresh scent they had acquired from a nice wash and taking on that warm and cozy smell of... rubber. mmm. nice.

My hangers were at the Anderson's, who I'd like to give a congenial shout to for storing my crap longer than they had planned. I went to get them and there it began. Hangers, unlike no other thing on this earth, i think, can challenge one's mental stability. AND no other entity understands solidarity like our main character, the hanger. These devils stick together. Sometimes just in two's or three's. Most often in large packs. They do not like to go silently... or alone...

I managed to get my clothes hung up, but not without a fight. I had reached for one and just when I thought it was emerging without tether, I discovered a nasty web of metal maze that needed acute attention. They're very needy, these hangers. I tried reaching for some of my larger plastic ones and the necks broke under the burden and strain of tugging at them. They can hold my wet wool winter coat, but they cannot withstand a slight pull out of their lair... That's not bad design, that's intentional belligerence.

When I was hanging up my pants, I reached for strong metal ones that have clips on them. They're open ended at the length of the triangle. This posed a whole other issue adding a new dimension to the tangled. This variety could attach itself to any of the others and unite, not only because they had more open ended lines of metal but also because they could now inadvertantly become clipped to the other hangers.

Granted, these things are trying to be freed from a box, but it's the same business in the closet. They get caught in some intimate overlapping position which makes you wonder what's really going on in the closet. Or they clip on to one another getting clips caught because one hanger swung wrong as you pulled the garment off. Also, maybe a hanger began to fall and got caught grabbing on for dear life to another hanger (they're all very frightened of the undusted abyss that lies below... as we all are).

Of course, shaking them doesn't work. Oh sometimes you might get a weak one that wasn't prepared, but overall, they know what you're trying to do and most often, I think, this makes them angry and so they hold on tighter.

But they know you need them and they know your clothes would just stay on the floor, in the chair, on the dresser, or wherever else they fall, clean or dirty, if you didn't have them at your disposal. I know most of you do that with your clothes anyway but I don't think you do it with the excuse of "I'm just a clothes thrower..." No... I think you simply lost a battle with hangers once, too, and just aren't ready to admit that, perhaps, a nasty row with an inanimate object is something you lost. You'll feel better when you come to terms with this I think.

I'm a bit spent from that encounter. There's still a box of the hangers left over, taunting me, in the hall. They're still in a rather messy state. They know what they're doing and that annoys me. I had to walk away. I have to tell myself I'm not alone in this because, well, I don't believe I am. This is comforting. But does anyone have a better design in mind or does the ugliness just continue?