He probably would've broken down on the way. Or on the way back.
Thankfully, Salt Lake City has a pretty notable public transportation system, including a light rail that covers a good chunk of the city
and doesn't even have turnstiles to jump! It has multiple lines, plenty of stops, and covers campus a good amount too.
Admittedly, I hadn't thought of it at all when I was picking my apartment. I just happened to get lucky that it also stopped 3-4
blocks away from my front door. So every day, I'd walk the same 3-4 blocks to and from the closest station.
Four blocks is just long enough to be impossible to ignore yet not long enough to where I see anything interesting on my
way. Not just around the corner, but not a whole journey. A good amount of my trek was also just plain empty lots.
Although I did once pass this intersection and caught a whiff of something horrible in the air.
"Smells like burning garbage" I thought. I turned my head. A dumpster was on fire, and there was a man watching it.
But beyond that, and the hiking I would have to do in the winter as nobody paved these un-owned sidewalks, it was a nothing commute.
Everyone thinks about what they'd do if they found a USB Flash in the grass outside their house. Or a hard drive sewn into a jacket
from the thrift store (everyone thinks about that, right? I found a open tampon in a jacket pocket at a military outfitter once), but do
you know what you'd do if you found ~15 CDs, sprawled out on the retaining wall at an intersection you cross every day?
Well? What would you do? Be honest.
Would you take one? Take a disc? Take it home with you? Would you put it in your computer? A computer you don't care about, maybe?
Or maybe, just hang on to it?
It was Monday October 11th, 2021 when I spotted this. About 11:30 AM, I was on my way to the train. I promise, I swear, I didn't set
this up myself. I didn't have time to linger, the train comes every 15 minutes on weekdays, and every lost minute was
a minute I would have to relive in shame waiting for the next train. So I had to act quick... take one? Or just... take a picture?
Putting any mysterious device into your personal computer is basically asking to be hacked. As alluring as it may be, and as
unfortunate as it is for those of us who dream of guerilla advertising with stray technology, it's just not safe.
So I stood, and I took a picture. I took four, actually, as is customary when I'm doing photography. After all, evidence
can be pretty too. But besides the color grading, they're all more or less the same, as is customary when I'm doing photography.
I didn't take any discs. I wanted to, but I was so stunned by the sight of them that I wasn't thinking clearly.
I could've sworn, as I turned around, a man crouched in the bushes on the other corner of the street, watching me.
On my way home, the discs were gone.
Posted 7/21/2026
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