This morning, I vacuumed the basement. To prepare, I put the floor pillow and rug on the couch. I also put a box of old clothes, my slippers, and the rolling desk chair on top of the exercise mat. This way, these things were out of the way, so that I could run the vacuum undeterred over the carpet. 

Once I finished vacuuming, I unplugged the cord and wrapped it around the hooks on the side. Then I put the floor pillow and the rug back on the floor. But I forgot about the other things. I left them on the exercise mat. I went into my room and got a notebook to write some letters and only when I came back out to sit at my desk did I realize, “Hey, where’s my chair?”

I turned around and there it was on the mat, along with the box and the slippers—all of them together looking like they’d been standing there their whole lives, never having been anywhere else.