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Rain had lapped up and warbled the windows. The room was obscure. In the shadow like a child secreted beneath a table, I made my thoughts to froth and foam. Holding them in my mouth, I swallowed them unspoken. As the full stain of night bloomed, I took down my drowning bag from its silver nail. I emptied its contents, warm and brackish, onto the floor. What bounty! What ruins! There, an apostle's spoon, and there, a chipped tooth nestled in a baby's shoe. Here, a mother of pearl knife handle, and there, raveled stockings. A green glass jar filled with something viscous, pungent, unknowable. An amethyst brooch. He put on one disguise after another and came nearer. He sidled up close to me and I tried to catch him tight in that sack. He broke loose and fled. I listened to the drip drip of the rainspout.
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