Toy Store Aisle

You were brought in on a day with no birthday attached to it, which meant looking was the whole event. You are allowed to look as long as the grown-ups need, and you learned to make that stretch. One package on the shelf has been opened and taped shut again, and the tape is the thin shiny kind that only ever existed in stores like this, and you are almost certain you were the one who opened it. Nobody ever caught you, and you have carried that quietly ever since.

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Reality Is Optimal · created by Julian Cape, 2026