So, you’ve probably heard of the story of the traveling pants. It involves four girls, Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget. These girls found the traveling pants in a small shop in Bethesda, Maryland. They used the pants as a means to stay connected during the summer, when they were physically apart. Because of this story, the pants became a legend. Of course, they got lost, like all other things do. Yes, one of the girls sister dropped it into the Mediterranean Ocean, and the girls thought they were lost forever.

Obviously, this is not the case. The pants have a far greater history than this. In fact, they weren’t completely new when the sisterhood bought them in the shop in Bethesda. And the story wasn’t completely over when the girls lost the pants in Greece.

The story of the pants continues, and very likely always will. You may not know it, but perhaps you shall one day see the pants. Perhaps you already have seen the magical pants, but you didn’t think twice and threw them to the side. Perhaps you are wearing the pants as you read this, only you don’t know.

The pants are a wonderful thing. I can’t tell you exactly when the story started – it was presumably long before I was born. It was probably before you were born too. No one is sure who really owned them first , although I can tell you I was among the early ones.

I was coming home from school the day I found the pants. It was 1948, and unbearably hot outside. I had piano to practice once I got home, and my teacher had given me a pitiful 68 percent on a math test. I was sour and upset, not to mention fuming, so I almost didn’t notice the pants.

The only reason they caught my attention was because I noticed the squirrel nibbling at them. Like most girls, I adored anything small and furry, so I stopped to look at it. Only then did I notice the object it was nibbling was bright blue. I grabbed the thing, thinking it was a piece of garbage and the squirrel would choke on it.

Upon unfolding the object, I realized it was a pair of jeans. Now, I didn’t see many of these. I lived in the particularly small town of Rathshire, England. We mostly wore skirts there – to school, church, even at home – and all our pants were plain beige or dark blue. So it was odd to see this type of clothing.

My parents had always told me if you find something valuable, as long as it didn’t currently belong to someone else, you should keep it. Well, these pants didn’t look like they really belonged to anyone, so I took them home.

My mom and dad were happy upon seeing the clothes. We were still recovering from the war, so money was quite scarce in my family. My parents had invested most of their money on buying a new house and rebuilding the one that had been hit by a bomb in the war (thank goodness nobody was hurt) so it wasn’t like we had all the money in the world. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my two older sisters, or clothing sent to me by relatives. Only a few pieces in my collection were actually purchased with my family’s money.

The next day, I decided to wear the pants to school. There was nothing quite like them, and I was hoping to impress my friends by showing them the new pants.

They were ecstatic once they saw them, telling me how good I looked in them. Boys glanced at me a little longer, and teachers even seemed to approve. It was glorious for a twelve year old like me to get such attention.

So, of course, I began to wear them everyday. The pants were already popular before I got them, because everyone adored these new “jeans”. So you can imagine how my popularity grew when I had them. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be my friend. People adored me. Even Jacob Whistler (the cutest boy in school) wanted to be my biology partner! I was amazed at their power.

Eventually, the jeans began to fade. The tag that once said Minnesota Designs with the size and material could hardly be read. The ends were a bit ripped, and there were some grass stains on the knees. Nonetheless, I loved them, and wore them often. I felt like magical things could happen to me with those jeans.

I would occasionally let my friends wear them, but I was quite selfish when it came to my pants. I believed that the power could only be used by the one who found them, which was my excuse for not having to share them with other girls in my class.

Many glorious things happened to me with those pants. I won several track meets and tennis games with those pants by my side. I had my first kiss when I was wearing the pants, and I even wore the pants to my graduation ceremony.

I lost them one summer when I went to my aunt’s cottage. Me and some friends were goofing off by the lake, and I fell in. I had to take off the pants and leave them to dry outside the cottage. The next morning when I woke up, they were gone. I searched frantically for them, everywhere in sight. I made a fool of myself going around town asking people if they saw a pair of pants! At one point, I even put up “MISSING” posters. But they never showed up.

For a while, I was depressed. Eventually, I decided it was time to move on. I decided I should be happy with the time I owned these pants. After all, they were truly magical, and no one could change my mind about that. Not everyone got such extraordinary opportunities.

So I went on living my life, as much as I could. Of course, I never truly could wear another pair of jeans again. Every time I went shopping, I searched through the racks, hoping to find the all too familiar pair of jeans that had brought me so much joy. I even returned to the cottage a couple of times, just hoping I would find them. But no such luck.

Eventually, they did revisit. It was my first year after graduating from university. I had moved to London to get a job at a fashion label. I walked into the building, nervous yet confident at the same time. I was expecting something wild, something unexpected to happen. And wouldn’t you know it, right there on the chair in the waiting room was the pair of jeans. I recognized them so well, I could practically feel every rip and tear when I laid eyes upon them. I grabbed the opportunity to put them on, and I did my entire interview with those pants on. Once it was done, the lady complimented me on the pants, and three days later they called to tell me I got the job. Of course, I knew my time with the pants was over, because now they’d truly finished their job with me. So I went back to the waiting room and left them in the exact same spot I found them.

And that was the end of that. Or, at least for me.

I kept my eyes open for the pants, because I just wanted to see what had happened to them, what other wonderful adventures they’d had. I think a part of me always yearned to touch them again, to put them on. But I knew that it was no longer right for me to wear those pants. I’d finished my time with them, and it was someone else’s turn to get lucky.

I’m sure the pants achieved wonderful things after my time with them. To this day, I believe they were miracle pants. I believed they could do great things, and I was absolutely confident of this belief. They’d made me a happy girl for so many years, and I always thought of them as one of my closest friends.

An old American friend told me of Bridget, Tibby, Lena, and Carmen’s adventures in the pants, after she’d seen a clipping of it in the newspaper. She knew of my adventures, and it was so wonderful to see that they’d helped some other teenaged girls achieve their dreams.

I know I would have liked to see the pants again, or at least talk to these other girls again. But I also know that I would never be able to end the conversation, or let go of the pants, if this happened. So I just stayed content with what I had.

I’d like to believe the pants are still alive to this day, whichever day it is. Whether it’s 2030, 3000, or even 7000, I still hope the pants are alive for the person who is reading this. I hope that you one day get a chance with the pants, because they are a truly miraculous thing. Because I know their story hasn’t ended. Because I believe their story can’t, and never will, end.

Long live the pants.

AN: This is an idea for a story, and I hope I'll be able to continue it. This chapter is like a prologue. I got the idea when I started thinking about where the pants came from, and eventually it evolved into this story. The story will basically be about how the pants have helped people over the years, and thier true story. So if you like it review.

PS: I'm busy with other stuff, so I might not be able to update for a long while.