Umbrellas do not belong to us. We might think they are bound to the same mundane laws of ownership which govern other objects, but they are not.
Your umbrella is a fickle thing. Don't let it convince you of its unerring constancy. You might pick it up one day, feeling its familiar weight in your grip, and think, "ah yes, here is my trusty umbrella" -- but you should know that secretly, inside, that umbrella is yearning to breathe free, pining to be left on a park bench or a subway seat, lusting to become another person's property and start the cycle anew.
Someday, somehow, your umbrella is going to be protecting the head of someone you don't know. It's the Universal Law of Umbrellas.
There may also be a Conservation Law of Umbrellas, too. For every umbrella lost, another umbrella will be found.
I was pondering this prospect a few minutes ago. In the kitchen, I noticed a small green umbrella which I don't remember ever seeing before. It seems to have materialized some time over the weekend, which is convenient actually, seeing as to how my former umbrella escaped by means of a city bus on Friday.
I'll care for it for a while, and then let it escape into the wild.
Oh, who am I kidding. It will do that on its own.
