By Jerry Riley

We all know that the washer or dryer sometimes makes socks disappear, but the other morning I had a unique laundry-related experience. As I take socks out of the dryer, I try to match them up and then roll the pair together. That morning I got a clean pair of socks. I put one on and was putting the other sock on when I felt something; I pulled the sock off and a button battery came flying out, and, what a revoltin’ development this is! I was shocked! Well, only in a manner of speaking. I looked at the battery and thought about how it got into my sock.

I came up with only one way. The washer or dryer did it! Really, a few weeks ago I had to get some new button batteries, so I put an old one in my pocket. Later that day I remembered I had another pack of batteries, so I replaced the batteries in the gadget. I probably left the battery in my pocket. When I did my wash, I must have ignored my reminder to check the pockets, since I had all my normal pocket items.

Someplace in one of the laundry machines I suppose the battery came out of the pocket and made its way into my sock; when I rolled the socks together I didn’t notice any additional weight. Button batteries are just not very heavy.

It sat in my sock drawer, undisturbed, until that morning.

Jerry Riley comments for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.