My 10-year-old daughter always rushed to the bathroom as soon as she came home from school. When I asked, “Why do you always take a bath right away?” she smiled and said, “I just like to be clean.” However, one day while cleaning the drain, I found something. The moment I saw it, my whole body started trembling, and I immediately…

of washing school off before becoming herself again.

It sounded reasonable.

Reasonable explanations are dangerous that way. They come softly, like a blanket over your shoulders, and before you realize it, they have smothered your instincts.

So I let it continue.

For days, then weeks, then so long that the strange became ordinary.

Every afternoon I would continue reading …