Fluke Skywalker: The Paradox of Always One Missing Sock Solved

Long ago, when I was writing my first novel Burn & Learn, or Memoirs of the Cenozoic Era, I penned a chapter titled “The Nobel Peace Prize Paradox,” in which I catalogued a grand list of terrestrial paradoxes I’d encountered during my first 15,000 days on the planet of which I am most fond (for students of the present, pages 282-284).

Of course, I included “The Paradox of Always One Missing Sock,” the one where from nearly every load of laundry cycled sullenly through washer and dryer, one sock goes missing, and the other remains forlorn, bereft, and stranded, an abandoned orphan in the exquisitely solitary confinement of a dark dresser drawer.

Everyone knows where socks come from: Santa! So one bright Winter Solstice Morn not so long ago, I tore through shining paper to see--yes!--socks, but before I tossed the packet over my shoulder to move on to the good stuff, I marveled that one pair was a glorious hue, the exact shade of the cloudless noonday sky. I dubbed this pair my “Skywalkers,” you know, because socks go on my feet, upon which I also walk, and so, “Skywalkers.” Here, a tip of the hat to George and Mickey.

One sad laundry day, I was pairing up my socks, and I realized that the worst had happened, one Skywalker was gone. I immediately remembered Yoda’s encouraging last words, “There is a-nother Sky-walk-er.” My searches were unsocked, and I remained blueless for many months.

Then, last June, I attended a conference in Davis, California, and on one of those busy days, as I walked from one session to another with Veronica, we took a moment to sit outside and enjoy the California afternoon. I glanced down and glimpsed a defiant tongue of sky poking from beneath my cuff.

Yes, my other Skywalker was revealed, apparently having been hidden, during the cavortions of washing and drying, within one leg of my pants, and after a successful seclusion of two seasons, working earthward through my peregrinations to finally and sassily emerge beneath the hem of my left leg. I seized upon the sock and raised the fabric to the sun. Yes, this is the sock I was looking for.

Happily, I now report that my Skywalkers are back on double duty as I walk through the sky that, thanks to Stewart Brand, we all know starts at our feet.