March 23, 2025

I was walking through the hardware store and passed by a crowd that was gathered around a plastic folding table. The man at the head of the table was drawing a lot of attention by pontificating about how genocide was not only permissible but morally good. Eventually most of the people in the store had congregated around the man to argue with him as he sat in smug self satisfaction.

Someone pushed a button on one of the shelves stocked with detergent and an orange whirlpool opened up, swallowing the crowd of angry people. Apparently it lead to a downstairs chamber made for “containment”.

A friend showed me on his phone how he and his girlfriend had a habit of shopping around on online stores from different locales for the best deals. I picked up a paper fan that looked like it was made by grade school kid. It was decorated with uneven splotches of watercolor and the words “mom & dad” unevenly brushed in black ink on one edge. It didn’t look like something that was meant to be for sale.