found a small bug, and also a workaround

[thekoop]

in the fountain area with the large clock and the robot in the wheelchair, you eventually put a handle in the crank hole- if you try to use ANY item on the crank, the item changes into another crank, and it disappears! you can actually delete all of your items this way! the only way to get it back is to quit the game, and then reload and hit 'resume'. when it loads, you will have your item back.

[ABoretz]

in the fountain area with the large clock and the robot in the wheelchair... if you try to use ANY item on the crank, the item changes into another crank

This error sounds a lot like a known bug in one of the earlier versions of the game.  Please post some more information...

What is your favorite color?  What OS version of the game are you playing (MAC, WIN, Linux)?  Is this a downloaded version?  If it's last years' version - have you applied any and all necessary software patches?