I'm not sure how anyone could exist without a junk drawer. No household that calls itself a household is without one. It may be in the kitchen or the living room or the den or perhaps the garage. Maybe even the bedroom. But it is there. And it is essential to life as we know it.

To be a truly authentic junk drawer, it must contain things too valuable to throw away because there will come a time when we will surely need them. For example, a bolt. To be operable, bolts generally need a nut at the other end to secure whatever it is that we may one day choose to repair. Also, a corresponding washer may be required as well.

A junk drawer by design will contain several random-sized nuts and washers, just not any that will fit any of the bolts in the drawer. But who in good conscience can throw away a 3/16" x 3/4" roundhead stove bolt even if it doesn't have a locknut that fits? Or a washer? They are all too valuable to throw away and we may need them one day.

And don't forget screws. Most screws in a junk drawer will be of the slightly used variety. We took them out of something and even though they may be bent and a bit rusted, we assign them to the junk drawer. We may need them one day.

Any junk drawer worthy of its name will also have nails that have been previously extracted and like the aforementioned screws, may be bent and a bit rusted but who is going to throw away otherwise functional 3-inch tenpenny nails? We may need them one day.

If Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was my junk drawer. It has grown over the years with an accumulation of things too valuable to throw away because I will surely need them one day. I have all the prerequisite bolts and bent nails and rusty screws and nuts and washers that don't fit anything. I also have a door strike plate — brass — should I ever have to replace one in my home. You never know when that time will come and you have to be ready. The only thing missing are two little screws — brass — to secure the strike plate.

My junk drawer has one rubber chair leg bottom protector of indeterminate size if I find a chair that only needs only one and assuming it fits. But it is there just in case and that is the important thing. There is also a half-opened pack of felt sliders of all sizes to go under my chairs if I don't want to use the rubber chair leg bottom of indeterminate size. The point being that when it comes to chair leg bottoms, one can never be too prepared.

Probing around in my junk drawer can be a safety hazard. That is due to several random thumbtacks interspersed with the other essentials I may need one day. For some reason, the thumb part always seems to be down and the tack part always up. My fingers hate that.

And no junk drawer is worthy of being called a junk drawer without some string or cord to tie up something. And if you can't tie it up, you will likely need to glue it. And for that eventuality, you need Super Glue. I have several tubes of Super Glue because the stuff tends to dry up and I have to buy another one that also dries up and then another. I don't even think about throwing them away because I have been told if you soak them in hot water, they will once again be usable, and I may need to glue something one day. Right now, I'm thinking thumbtacks.

I also have in my junk drawer the directions to a flip phone that I owned back in the '90's, a warranty for a Sony Walkman cassette player, two cassettes that can't be identified, three ballpoint pens that don't write and several pencils that need to be sharpened. If there is a pencil sharpener in the drawer, I haven't been able to locate it. It may be under the flip phone directions.

I maintain that junk drawers are an absolute necessity. Who knows when you might suddenly have to glue a 3/16" x 3/4" roundhead stove bolt to a brass door strike plate with thumbtacks? I don't know about you, but I'm ready.

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139 or at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.