The Suitcase

Everything important that I have done can be put into a little suitcase. - Marcel Duchamp

I always wondered if a briefcase carried a brief, did suitcase carried a suit? This makes sense if English is your native language. Suitcases can carry everything - From clothes to books to shoes, apparently humans as well.

"Now some went a ridin' and some had to walk. But Lord if that little brown suitcase could talk" - "I followed the pattern set down by the rest. On the inside of the cover I wrote my address" Little Brown Suitcase - Tom T. Hall

There were those days, when I used to travel with my family to places, and I remember how we would re-confirm counting the baggage & how we would wait for our sticker pasted, specific  colour suitcase to arrive at the airport. I still remember how we would put a lock & safeguard the suitcase with chains when traveling via train & would seldom peep to check if it was not stolen. They were always kept empty on top of the wardrobes or in the loft, until we were to travel again. 

Must I be the man in a suitcase, Is it me, the man with the stranger's face. I'd invite you back to my place. It's only mine because it hold my suitcase. - The Police, Man in a suitcase 

I've grown up and have more stories in my suitcase now. I’ve everything else jam-packed in my suitcase other then the belongings. I hardly carry it anymore. I wasn't much of a traveler though, but If I had to travel, I always made sure I had the right amount of things in my suitcase.

The thought of you, it keeps me warm. Wish I could take you in my suitcase, to every city, every new place.- 'Suitcase' - JJ Heller

My dad used to have few old & new ones & it would always excite me and make me curious to see what all he had inside, and I would often tell him, even I want to have one & he would smile. I have couple of my dad's briefcases kept too. but they hardly can hold anything much, so they stay empty. Now they probably have in it a  briefcase key, an old watch, a calculator, a mechanical device, a inch tape & some pinned papers, with several holes that have turned yellow. Few  others had a bunch of old Files tied with strings containing documents - out of which few had turned yellow & some were bitten by rats. Mom used to say, all you would find after I am gone would be a bunch of piled medical reports in a suitcase. Well apart from everything else there were love letters too, that I found. 

What do you keep in that bag of tricks? Is there anything at all in that briefcase? Hang on real tight to your briefcase - Mr. Briefcase - Lee Ritenour

I was scratching my head, as I sat down with an open suitcase, full of pandora of things - everything in pairs or even more then one; wires, cables, mouse, keyboards, laptops, modem, cd's, adapters, display cards, ink cartridges & floppy diskettes in all colors, shapes & sizes. I’ve been struggling to still find years after years - every time, ways of putting them to use or abandoning them. They've been loitering around for a while now & once in a while, I would have a good look at them & close the suitcase, keeping it away.

Things or memories - dead or alive, I feel tired & exhausted after looking at & thinking about everything else that the suitcase carries inside-out. I wonder what good they would be if at all they came back to life once again & if they didn't, how much & for how long of these could I still endlessly keep storing & piling.  Am I tied together by ownership of a cursed suitcase or it marks the beginning of the adventure?

“And I'll meet you in the graveyard With the winter trees and stars Oh, we could open up this suitcase full of sparks.” - Gregory Alan Isakov

I had done away with the other suitcase that was full of audio cassettes & CD Rom’s, but there still was a bulk of them lying somewhere. There seem to be yet another suitcase, that I need to check. I really cant remember of all the suitcases I do have, which one has what now, I guess I need to print & stick labels on it. While There were plentiful of other things, that just could not be dumped into a suitcase like monitors, printers, scanners, electric appliances & everything else, I’ve still managed to have few stored in cardboard boxes.

“You said, You'd never let me down, And now we're drowning in the water...backtracking to memories. I never wanted to sell you my mistakes...Admit it, you wanted it all in a briefcase.” - The Recycled EP by North Breese  

I am not sure if I was living with or without a briefcase, in the suitcase, or out of the suitcase, in the box or out of the boxes - with one or many or with none. I had a many ‘still to go’, while others - away & done. I look at them, I look at myself & question ‘which one is the happiest of all?

Now the time has come to leave you, And I'll be on my way...All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...I'm leavin' on a jet plane, Don't know when I'll be back again - John Denver

Not all suitcases or briefcases carry a bomb. Anxious to know, what's inside the Suitcase? The surprise ending - discovery of the suitcase could open ones heart to the truth. 

I'll tell you what I love doing more than anything: trying to pack myself in a small suitcase. I can hardly contain myself - Tim Vine

If only I could do away with the stuff, that was inside the suitcase or everywhere else - I could sound less of a nutcase & be at peace, buried with my corpse carrying along with me the treasure of stories. - Anonymous