Carol drove with the calm that comes from years of experience, humming old songs while the afternoon sun painted the landscape in golden tones. We had been on the road for about an hour when I decided to get more comfortable. I stretched a little, turned my neck to relieve the tension, and it was then my eyes fell on the space between the back seats and the trunk.

The purse. That object that shouldn’t be there, forgotten among our belongings like a time bomb waiting to explode.