thumbing a ride

The glass wand inside the lid of Mercurochrome and the smell and pull and feel of white adhesive tape;
That red string, crispy paper and odd fragrance of a Band Aid;
The thin strip you had to very carefully tear in order to open a Kleenex box.
Its glass stopper, and to leave or not to leave the paper on a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce?
Cartons of ice cream with their big smeary flaps;
The tiny round tab on a milk bottle cap, echoed by one on the lid of an ice cream cup with its awkward wooden spoon.
Zippers on the side of a dress, under your left armpit.
Hooks and eyes.
Ridgy, crimped caps on soda pop that hurt, with bubbles that stung and weird stuff swirling around the bottom of the bottle.
Cary telling me how much she hated the big rubber toecaps of her US Keds when she was little;
Paper frills on the bony ends of swell meats;
And all the funny things flowers were stuck into or wound with--tape, wire, fake leaves or real ones from something else--so you could wear them on your shoulder.