“yeah, but don’t start believing that shit”

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
8 min. @ The Mascot on West Queen West

Sheila had kept the hair wrapped around the little carved figure for two weeks now. She was careful to make sure she removed it from under the pillow when she got up. Rico would curse her grandmother and their “swamp magic” if he found it. Two more weeks. She never felt it while she slept and wondered if she’d feel when the magic started. It took five days to harvest a long enough hair from Rico’s head but at least the curl of it made it easy to wrap around the crudely carved trinket. It was no bigger than her pinkie and half as thin. She wondered if her grandmother ever split one in the carving? Two more weeks.