Moronic English Assignments

I had longed for a leather coat since I was in the 6th grade. It was something I dearly wanted, the appearance, the comfort, and the status of having one was what drew me to it. However, at the time, the money needed for such a coat was something I desired to keep more. Another problem was finding one that I actually liked, and considering how much influence James Dean had on the industry, this was a tough endeavor. After several years of saving and searching, I had finally found one that I liked, and was also at a price I was willing to pay. A black lambskin coat, well designed, comfortable, on sale at Wilson’s Leather, a perfect combination of factors that finally drove me to get it.

Anyone who knows me well knows that when the air chills and I am out of my house, I have my coat. Formally I always wore it, or had it on the back of my chair, for fear of the lamb finding its legs again and walking away. Now, as its value has dropped, I keep it with me for convenience and habit. It is something ingrained in me to always have it within sight, and what easier way to see it than when I wear it. The only time I won’t wear it is when I am doing a dirty or rough activity. Otherwise, it is with me through the cold weather.

There is not much I associate specifically with it. There are no activities, events, or days I associate it. The reason it is special to me is the cumulative time I have worn it for the past three years. There have been fun times I have had when I happened to wear it, along with happy, sad, angry, and average days. However, the combined time I have worn it and the fact it is generally the first thing people see on me is what makes it important. My outward feelings of the coat don’t expand much further than warm and comfortable. Underneath these feelings though, there is something it makes me feel, though hard to explain, I know its there. It is something like power, strength, or toughness, things that aren’t really me, but something it does provide is pride. It is the pride of having a status symbol coat, and pride that I earned the money that paid for it.

It is other people who have stronger feelings applied to my coat. It makes teachers and shopkeepers nervous, afraid I am one of “them.” My friends identify me by it, picking me out of the halls to shout “Crackerjack!” People know me by it, a passerby will recognize it and remembering something I did while wearing it. Not to mention, with certain clothes it actually looks professional, or it did at one time.

Three years have worn it down, and now has nicks in the leather and faded areas. The original zipper pull broke, leaving me for a year to deal with paper clips or other ingenious mechanisms to zipper it, until a friend who calls out my real name in the halls replaced it as a gift. Excessive wearing has made the leather exceptionally soft and comfortable, though has left it rather weak in some areas. Harsh treatment and lack of care for it has left it in a poor state, but I wear it as much as ever. After all, my coat is my nametag.