048/365 10/08/2025

The bag men come at night. Thump, thump, thump, they thump to drums, drums, drums. I can hear them. Cresting hills. Slogging through swamp. They come and come and come. 

Preacher Daniel tells me the bag men aren’t real. He tells me it’s my imagination. And then shhh, shhhh, shhh…be brave, little girl. You’re so brave. Then it just smells like wool and wine and whathaveyou. That’s the word Ms. Grackle uses when she can’t think of what comes next. I like to use it, too, when I can’t think of what comes next.