A Token's Impression

Tipping the vintage brass bus token from my coin pocket onto the wooden desk, its metallic clink sounded bright under the amber lamp. The quiet evening ride back on Line 4 had given me time to decide how to preserve it without weighing down the binding. Laying a square of translucent tracing paper over the coin, I held its ridged rim steady and tilted my graphite pencil low. With a few light, sweeping strokes, the raised letters and square center cutout emerged crisp and dark against the sheer paper. Pasting the finished rubbing into my travel log felt like tucking decades of Seoul commutes safely into place.