All the boxes were stacked high with the contents of their lives stored in them. It was like Christmas in reverse, running around in the hot summer putting all the things they already owned into packages that never got wrapped. Santa’s replacements were a group of burly elves who moved things into a giant truck without a word of cheer. Their home eventually emptied until nothing remained but a few dust bunnies on the hardwood floor that moved with every echoing step.

This continued until they all climbed into the truck, feeling as weary children might, knowing that the only solace was at the end of a long trip. Not around the world, but across the country to some deep and foreign region. There they could take everything out and do it all again, but this time properly, finding new spaces for everything that had remained still for so long.

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