The bus driver says the name of the village like it is a question, and then does not wait for the answer.

Ten years. The same heat, the same crack in the road, the same cicadas going at each other in the trees.

Your phone says no service. Your phone has said that since the last town.

The Thread Festival is in six days. Everyone comes back for it. That is what the letter said.

The letter did not say who had written it.