Filberts to be specific. I am not entirely sure where they came from, just that the ever present brown paper bag full of them had a distinct presence on the second shelf of the kitchen cupboard. The girl would eat them. She would crack the shells, then leave them on the counter. The pile of shards would grow steadily, I would clean them. Much like small creatures working overnight, the pile would return in my absence. I would clean it, and it would return.

So I hid them in the basement. Now they are quietly shrivelling in their shells months at a time.