To Have and to Hold

Today someone asked if they could borrow a pencil of mine. This isn't a rare occurrence, it happens to everyone occasionally. But what happened after I let the person borrow the pencil was in no way ordinary.

I was sitting in a lecture about the problems with the Welfare system. It was extra credit for my Economics class, I am not quite sure why. It didn't really have anything to do with economics.

I expected to attend this hour lecture, get some extra credit, and that is about it. I didn't really have much of a clue what the lecture was on. Before the speaker started, they asked everyone in the class to introduce themselves, and say why they attended the lecture and what they hoped to get out of it. I didn't think my teacher would like if I told the speaker I was only there because it was extra credit. When it was my turn, I said my name is Danny and I came here to learn. That is it, that is all I could think of. I mean, why would I be attending a lecture basically on how single mothers can gain full access to their Welfare benefits if it wasn't for extra credit?

Near the end of the lecture, the speaker handed out some papers. A man by me asked if he could borrow my pencil I had out on the table. I said sure and handed it to him. It was a nice mechanical pencil. A little later I noticed he was done filling out the form, and was waiting for him to return my pencil. He did no such thing. He had a tight hold on the pencil. He put it in his mouth, maybe he was in deep thought. He used my pencil to scratch his face and comb his hair. After this, there was no way I was taking the pencil back. I was slightly disgusted. He never did end up offering the pencil back, which I guess is just as well. But next time someone asks to borrow something of mine, I will definitely remember the time I loaned away my mechanical pencil.